Hidden Lives: Dragons
by Hezpeller
Summary: Continuing from where Hidden Lives: Protectors left off, it centers around Jake and Rose's daughter, who has no knowledge of her mother whatsoever. But now, as she turns 13, she will be plunged into a whole other world and find many dark secrets buried.
1. Nightmares

**As promised, here's the sequel!**

**So for those of you that are new to the stories, you should read the story before this one called 'Hidden Lives: Protectors' or else this story will make little, if any sense to you :P To get to it, the easiest way would be to go to my profile and click on the other story and enjoy!**

**So these are the answers to reviews from the aforementioned story :)**

**Latinachick: Thanks! Hopefully you like this story as much as the previous one!**

**Onej6: Thanks! And worry not! Here is the sequel :D**

**Housekeeping: I don't own ADJL, I do own my OCs who sometimes have the worst strikes of luck :P Disney owns the show ADJL...and I'll leave it at that.**

**That will be the disclaimer for the whole story, just in case I forget to post it once :S**

**This part is a flashback, that's why it's in italics.**

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"_Daddy! Can you read me a story?" A five-year old piped up._

"_Sure thing honey, which one do you want to hear?"_

"_The one about the dragon!"_

"_You always ask for that one." The father said, chuckling._

"_I know, but it's soo romantic! Please Daddy please?" The little girl pouted, her azure eyes peeking out from under her black bangs to make a cute face._

"_Alright, fine. Now let's see...Once upon a time there lived this cool and red dragon. He was loved by everyone. He was known as the American Dragon. He had lots of enemies. One of them was the Huntsman! He was ferocious and had a twisted mind and convinced everyone that dragons and other magical creatures were disgusting and vile. But one secret the dragon had was that he was also a human! No one that knew him as a human knew that he was a dragon, except for his friends and family. He also had a crush on a girl, but he couldn't tell her that he was the American Dragon, because if his enemies found out, they would harm her. So it stayed that way, until the boy went with his school on a ski trip. There, he found that the girl of his dreams was none other than Huntsgirl! An evil girl who worked for the Huntsman and dreamed of killing the red dragon. But he saw that she wasn't all that evil. _

"_After a couple of days, the girl mysteriously vanished. Many years later she reappeared, but she was undercover as a fashion designer. You see, in those years she found out dragons were kind and nice, and decided that instead of slaying them, she would protect them! So she became the Guardian Angel, but if anyone from her past recognized her, she would be in grave danger. But then, one day, she had saved the dragon from being captured by the evil Huntsclan, and he found out the truth about her, and she of him._

"_They continued to fight side by side, realizing that they were falling in love. But then, the dragon's sister thought it would be a good idea to have the girl infiltrate the Huntsclan, and she became the Huntress, the new leader of the Huntsclan! Everyone thought she was a ruthless villain, but she was nothing but kind to her friends and family. Then, one day, they had a baby girl, and they lived happily ever. Now honey, you need to go to sleep."_

"_Aww man! Fine, good night daddy." With that, the girl went to her bedroom, where her dad tucked her in. He closed the door and after a couple of minutes, she perked up as she heard voices, one of them a woman! _Maybe Mommy came back!_ Thought the little girl. As quietly as she could, she snuck up to her door and listened in._

"_I swear, one day she's going to ask you for their names Jake, and then you're going to be in trouble."_

"_Very funny, so how are things going?"_

"_Good, Haley had twins, one boy and one girl. They're so cute. Gwen is dealing with James, who is so energetic!"_

_The little girl was very curious as to who the woman was. She opened the door a little bit, but they caught her. What she saw scared her. Her dad was there, standing, but beside him was a figure all clad in black, and the only thing that could be seen were the blue eyes. The little girl started trembling. The scary figure was approaching her, her hands outstretched, while her father was just standing where he was when she found him. She backed away as much as she could and started screaming and wailing._

"_Bridge, don't be afraid, she's not going to hurt you ok?" Her father said, picking her up._

"_Daddy, I don't want to! She's scary!"_

_Her dad turned and faced the figure. "Well, that might be, but she's also kind and caring."_

"_I don't trust her Daddy."_

"_Go to sleep honey, she won't hurt you ok?"_

_Bridgette went and laid down on the bed, facing the wall, not wanting to look at the scary woman. Suddenly, she felt her dad caressing her hair trying to soothe her. He sat down on her bed, and Bridge felt another comforting hand on her, together, both hands had lulled the girl to sleep._

_Unbeknownst to the girl, the second hand was not her father's._

_After that day, Bridgette had always been afraid of hooded and masked figures. She hated and feared Halloween, especially on the years that hooded and masked figures were the popular costumes._

**OK, so I should probably put some mini bios on the characters now.**

**Jake Long/American Dragon: Still the American Dragon, being a single parent doesn't really waver him from his duties, and he has the perfect excuse for leaving every night, he just says he's going to work! Jake became quite a famous chef, opening his own restaurant Chef Long, and has the best reviews any chef can ask. He needs to train his daughter to become the next American Dragon, but it's going to prove to be harder than he thought.**

**Bridgette Angel Long (Bridge): Jake and Rose's daughter, she has quite the attitude, using it to hide behind, masking her own feelings from prying eyes. She acts like a total tomboy, but secretly has a closet obsession for fashion, including works from a famous designer by the name of Jennifer Phillips. She still hasn't been able to recover from that 'bad dream' she had when she was 5, and hopes for the destruction and banishment of Halloween. She completely despises her mother, even though she has never met her, or knows anything about her. She just hates her for leaving or as she calls it "abandoning" and "being a coward."**

**Rose Long/Huntress: Rose is still Rose, albeit for the fact that she hasn't actually been herself for years. She has either been the Huntress or Jen Phillips, but has yet to go back out on the streets as just Rose. As the Huntress, she's as evil as it gets. Well, she puts up the façade but to those that live in her complex, she's the kindest person you can imagine. The Huntress uses her skills to hide around innocuous places, keeping tabs on Bridge. She tries to see her and her husband as much as she can, but has sometimes gone for months, and once, a whole year, on end without seeing either of them. She hopes one day that her daughter will accept her, and that they'll be able to live together.**

**Trixie Spudinski: Trixie is now happily married to Spud, and has her own column in the paper: Trixie's Closet, where she dishes out the best combos for what to wear and when to wear it. She has a daughter, Art, who is the same age as Bridge, and is still close friends with Jake, but can no longer help him with AmDrag stuff due to the fact that she has a family to take care of.**

**Arthur Spudinski (Spud): Spud has become quite the lawyer in New York, handling cases in a way only a genius of Spud's calibre can. He is happily married to Trixie and has his daughter Art. Like Trixie, Spud can no longer help Jake with Dragon duties for the same reasons as Trixie. He is also rarely called Spud anymore, except by close friends.**

**Artemisia Spudinski (Art): You call her Artemisia, she'll whoop your butt like it's nobody's business, preferring to be called Art. She is as smart mouthed as her mom, but as smart as her dad. Fortunately, she doesn't try to act like Spud did, hiding his intelligence, rather, she uses it to help her friends with it. She's best friends with Bridge, and won't let anyone hurt her friend in any way whatsoever.**

**Fitzdale Jones (Fitz): Like Art, he'll get super pissed if called Fitzdale, thinking it to be an old man's name. He's a laid back teen, and recently transferred, but has become fast and close friends with Art and Bridge. His parents are psychologists, and so he has a deep understanding of the mind, but sometimes forgoes that for just plain common sense.**

**Haley and David: They are happily married and have twins, a boy and a girl, who have been born into the Huntsclan. The kids know nothing about their mother's heritage, and they are growing up hating magical creatures. Haley went back to university and got a teaching degree along with her husband. They are still both Huntsgirl and Huntsboy, and are considered to be Huntress's must trusted warriors.**

**Violet: Still in Washington, she hasn't seen her sister since the night she left, she wonders why Rose ditched her that way, but doesn't go back to NYC for fear that Rose now hates her, and for the fact that she has heard reports on the Huntress's ruthlessness and thinks that her sister really has once again become evil.**

**Gwen: Gwen had her son, however, refuses to continue being Gwen Avezon. She is now Huntress's right hand woman, The Huntswoman, for lack of better name, and often gives the Huntress advice on what to do. She kept her promise to not reveal Haley or Rose's husband, and tries her best to keep the charade up with her son and Haley's own children.**

**Gramps: Still at the same old electronics store, he still hasn't had a customer, or a sale. He helps Jake often with dragon duties, especially on the nights when Jake has to work. He also babysits Bridgette, and when the time comes for her to become the American Dragon, he will be there to help Jake teach her. He tells Bridge to call him Gramps as well, since it's easier than Great Gramps. He always has to refrain from calling Jake and Bridge 'Young Dragon', which can prove quite hard due to force of habit, but he's managed.**

**Fu Dog: Still the same 700 year old Sharpei. Loud mouthed, full of jokes, and still making and owing bets to the famous Big Ernie. Fu has been living with Jake and Gramps, interchanging between the two, not being able to talk with Bridge around, since she doesn't know about magical creatures. He always freaks out whenever Rose shows up, still not used to the Huntress being Jake's wife. **

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**And with this, The first chapter begins!**

**And now, a snippet of the next chapter:**

_**"Yeah dad, I'll totally be more mature! It's just me turning 13, it's not like something magical and amazing will happen! Plus, why did I have to be cursed with being born on Halloween? I hate it!"**_

_**"ARGH! How is she going to fight the Huntsclan if she's afraid of everyone with masks and hoods Fu?"**_

_**"That's the least of my problems! She's still afraid of you!"**_

_**"You do realize your daughter is quite her father's carbon copy?"**_

_**"Hey, name's James."**_

_**"I just want to shove her into the house and make her see what our life is like after she became a coward and ditched us."**_

**For those of you that can't get enough of this story, I'm going to be creating screens from scenes in the series on my dA account. To get to it, just go to my profile and click "homepage." Right now I only have some character designs for Jake and Rose... but fear not, there is more to come! I know that my pen name is different on both websites, but it's still same old me :D**

**Please let me know what you think! No account required!**

**Hezpeller**


	2. The Shadow Lurking Above

**New chapter!**

**Ok, so at first I had thought that everyone had gotten bored of me because the traffic counter for my story showed zero...but now I find out that 30 or so people have reading, it seems the counter got a glitch that has now been fixed:P**

**Anywho... this is the second chapter!**

**To clarify a couple of things: In my last story, Jake and Rose were 22 when we left them off, and Haley was 18, meaning, 4 years younger. Trixie, Rose and Gwen got pregnant at around the same time, therefore, their kids are of the same age. Haley had her kids when she was 23. Right now, Haley is 31, and all of the other adults (except Lao Shi and Fu Dog) are 35. Hope that clarifies that :)**

**Onej6: Thanks! Yep, Haley had twins, hopefully my little schpiel above clarifies that. :) She'll make an appearance here. I will be updating it ever two days, and here is today's! :) Oh yeah, I can already see me getting confused with the names...**

**Just one more note: The flashback was just a little background for a pivotal part of the story. Rose went to go visit Jake and Bridge, and Bridge, like any other normal kid, got scared when she saw a scary figure...think about it this way, if you met the Huntress in the middle of a dark alleyway, wouldn't you be scared? Anyway, the next day, Jake had convinced Bridgette that what she had was a nightmare, and that it wasn't real, that there was no scary woman. Jake can't exactly tell her the truth right?**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

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==At Jake's Apartment

Bridgette woke up with small start, having just had her terrible nightmare again.

"BRIDGE! GET UP! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!" Her dad yelled up the stairs.

"Coming!" Bridge grumbled, getting up from her bed.

Downstairs, Jake had finished preparing his coffee, and was drinking it when Bridge came down. Bridge was a young girl with long black hair, a thin face, and blue eyes that spoke volumes. She was wearing a blue hoody with black jeans and carrying a blue skateboard with flames on it.

"Bridge, I thought that, considering you're turning 13 you'd actually act that way and be more mature, meaning I don't have to be calling you to wake up ten thousand times before you actually wake up?"

"Yeah dad, I'll _totally_ be more mature! It's just me turning 13, it's _not_ like something _magical _and _amazing _will happen! Plus, why did I have to be _cursed_ with being born _on_ Halloween? I hate it!" Bridge retorted, her voice laced with sarcasm. "Morning Fu." She kneeled and scratched the old sharpei's ears.

"You mean you're_ afraid_ of it!" Jake joked.

"DAD! It's just a bunch of stupid people who are too afraid to ask for candy to strangers so they decide to hide behind grotesque faces so that no one recognizes them!"

"Bridge, will you relax? I know you had that bad dream after I tucked you in that day, seeing that what did you call it? 'The masked and hooded woman'? It was 8 years ago, and totally not real! You can't be scared of that! You can't be scared of a fictional woman!"

"Whatever dad, I need to get going." Bridge grabbed her backpack and left on her skateboard, trying to make it to class on time.

"ARGH! How is she going to fight the Huntsclan if she's afraid of everyone with masks and hoods Fu?" Jake fumed.

"Well kid, ya got me there. What I do know is that tomorrow promises to be a very interesting day. It's going to be a Friday, it'll be Halloween and the kid's turning 13! I need to go and see Big Ernie about some bets."

"Well I hope the bets are in favour of Bridgette Fu Dog." A voice spoke from the doorway.

"Rose! Geez, you're going to scare me into a coma one day!"

"I'll leave that part to Bridgette." Huntress replied, coming in to stand beside her husband.

"Very funny, now if you two lovebirds don't mind, I've got an appointment to keep!" With that, Fu Dog left.

"Good morning sweetheart, from what I heard, Bridgette is starting to become quite cheeky." Rose smirked, lowering her hood and taking off her mask.

"That's the least of my problems! She's still afraid of you!"

"I'm sorry Jake. I guess it's my fault."

"No Rose, it's ok, it's not your fault. I'm just angry at Bridge, but I'm sure she'll come around, she has to. For all magical creature's sakes."

==Bridge's School

"Yo Bridge! Wait up!" Trixie and Spud's daughter looked just like Trixie but her skin tone was a bit lighter and she had long brown hair.

"Hey Art! What's up?"

"Yo girl! Don't be what upping me! You know very well. It's your birthday tomorrow girl!"

"Yeah Bridge, we wouldn't miss it for the world!" Their other friend Fitz was the new guy, who had transferred there at the beginning of the school year, and they had fast become friends.

'Thanks guys! Come on, let's get our butts to mythology before Mrs. Norman gets them in detention!"

Together, the trio made their way to the school, which was the same school Jake, Spud and Trixie had attended. They went into mythology just a second after the bell rang.

"Well well well. What have we here? The three musketeers are actually almost relatively on time?" Mrs. Norman was an Asiatic woman with long black hair. She was quite young, and was kind to most students, but she never missed an opportunity to taunt Bridgette.

"Sorry Mrs. Norman, it's uh, um you know! There was traffic?" Bridge said, hoping Mrs. Norman would be lenient.

"Detention at lunch you three!"

"Aww man!" Bridge exclaimed.

Unbeknownst to everyone, as Mrs. Norman turned around to start writing on the board, she was silently giggling.

==At lunch

The trio were on their way to detention. Art and Fitz were walking while Bridge was skateboarding backwards, facing her friends, and complaining.

"I swear, how does she know so much about myths? She's probably an ogre or something! Whaaat? Why are you guys making shut up signs? Wait...she's right behind me isn't she? Ouf!" Bridge crashed onto something, or rather, someone. Bridge turned around and saw Mrs. Norman, who was smirking.

"Ms. Long, I want to see you in my office, now! You two, Artemisia and Fitzdale, are exempted from your detentions." The two mentioned teens were pissed off at being called by their full names, because they hated them, but they swallowed their pride at this, considering this was their teacher, and because she had just let them go.

Mrs. Norman walked away, with Bridge in tow. They reached the teacher's office where she let Bridgette in and closed the door. Mrs. Norman sat down behind her desk.

"Ms. Long, you seem to be a good student, but you're always hiding behind your attitude! Try to be a little bit more humane. Is everything ok at home?"

"Yeah, everything is fine Mrs. Norman, I just had a rough night, that's all."

"Very well. I'll be lenient today, and you are also exempted from your detention. Have a good day Bridgette."

"Huh? Oh wait, what? Sure, thanks!" The girl bolted from the room before her teacher could come to her senses.

"You do realize your daughter is quite her father's carbon copy?" Mrs. Norman said, noticing the open window and looking up.

Down dropped a woman in her mid-thirties wearing all black, the only thing noticeable were her eyes, which were of a deep blue colour.

"Yes, she's quite the mischievous one isn't she?" Huntress said, eyes twinkling in amusement.

"What happened? The nightmare again?"

"It seems so. Jake can't get her to let it go, and now he's wondering how she's going to fight us."

"Tomorrow promises to be interesting. Why are you following her today?"

"I want to know what my daughter is up to, can't I? Plus, I haven't seen any of them in over 3 months! On top of that, I need to get her her gift."

"Ah yes, fair enough. I shouldn't question you."

"You're my friend, and my sister-in-law, and I'll not have you treating me as your superior. Relax Haley, you seem to be stressed out as well! Plus, the IFS in a week, so Jen Phillips gets to make an appearance."

"Sounds like fun. I'll be here marking papers."

"Aren't you the bundle of joy? Anyway, I've got to get going. Gwen must have finished signing her son up."

"Ah, right! I forgot that she begged you to accompany her!"

"Among other things. For a woman that can strike fear into magical creatures, it's quite surprising that she would need escort to sign her kid up in school."

==At Bridge's English class.

"Ms Long!"

"Hamlet!" Bridge shouted, gathering snickers from her classmates.

"No Ms. Long. I was asking you to identify yourself so that our new student knew where to sit, but surely Mr. Avezon, you must have figured it out by now where your classmate is, as well as the rest of the school." The old English teacher replied dryly

The new kid came and sat down beside Bridgette. "Hey, name's James."

"Bridgette."

The bell rang, signifying the end of the day. Bridge bolted from the room before James could get another syllable in.

"Yo Hamlet! Wait up!" Art yelled, catching her friend near a tree.

"Very funny Art! What's up?"

"Yo girl! You seem to have your knickers in a twist. Is it about your b-day and all that?"

"Hey guys, Bridge what was up with Hamlet?" Fitz came, carrying his own skateboard.

"It was nothing, I just fell asleep that's all." Bridge mumbled sitting down on the tree. If she were to turn her head up, she would see the woman that had been plaguing her nightmares for the past 8 years.

"Another nightmare?" Art asked, sitting beside her best friend.

"Nightmare? What nightmare?" Fitz asked, totally lost, but also sitting down.

"It's nothing Fitz."

"Come on! Dr. Fitz Jones is now in!"

"Alright Fitz, one night, I remember I had gone to sleep but then there was this woman talking with my dad. Except, she was wearing all black. Imagine a ninja wearing all black. Then imagine that ninja wearing a black cape and a hood, so the only thing you could see were their eyes! It was terrible. They saw me and I just kept on backing up but the woman kept on advancing. I got so scared of her, I just started crying. But the next day, my dad was acting like all of that was a dream, or a nightmare. And I always have it every now and then."

"So, erm, is that why you fell asleep in class? Because you didn't sleep well last night?" Fitz asked, trying to make sense of it all.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry girl! Now, Artie here wants to know, what the hell do you want for yo birthday!" Art asked.

"Ugh, I don't know, one thing no one would be able to get for me, the other one is materialistic dreams of mine." Bridge groaned

"Come on Bridge! Just tell us." Fitz coerced, trying to cheer his friend up.

"Fine. First of all, and don't laugh or tell anyone! I want a dress from Jennifer Phillip's collection."

"Damn girl! Since when you all into fashion?"

"Art! I don't know, I just, like it. I saw it the other day, and I just fell in love with it. It's the one on display in the mall."

_Oh? The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree it seems._ Huntress smirked from her hiding spot.

"Ok, it's just weird that you, little miss tomboy, would actually _want _something fashionable!" Art exclaimed.

"So, what's the other thing?" Fitz asked.

"You're going to think it's dumb, but: the woman who gave birth to me."

"Your mom? Girl I thought you hated her!"

_Say WHAT!_ _Bridgette hates me?_

"I do! I just want to punch her for what she did to my dad and my life. I mean, the reason why I went out to check on the voice that night was because I thought she was there! Dad never talks about her, and he's never taken me to a cemetery, so I know she's alive. I just want to shove her into the house and make her see what our life is like after she became a coward and ditched us."

"So, I'm guessing you didn't grow up with your mom for long?" Fitz asked.

"Would please not call her that? She gave birth to me and that's all! But, no, I have no memory of her whatsoever Fitz! I wouldn't even know what she looked like if I saw her in public, she might be walking right here in New York and I wouldn't know!"

"Do you know her name?" Fitz asked, persistent.

"Fitz! I don't know anything about the woman! The only thing that I can guess is that she has blue eyes because it's not from my dad's side of the family."

"Great, so we can put up an ad in the classified section for a Mrs. Long, a blue eyed woman who gave birth to a girl and has been missing for 13 years." Fitz replied triumphantly.

Art, Bridge and Huntress just face palmed.

"Fitz! Just give up! If she ran away it's because she doesn't want to come back. Plus, my dad never married her."

_What gives you that idea?_

"How do you know?" Fitz asked.

"Did you ever see a ring on Mr. Long's finger Fitz?" Art exclaimed.

"Chill dudette. They might have been married in the past. Plus, my parents said that some people just declare their love for each other and they consider that to be their marriage."

"Fitz I-" Suddenly, Bridge's phone starts ringing "Hey you've reached Bridge's voicemail please leave a message...Hey dad! Yeah no, that wasn't the voicemail, sorry, don't need to get so grouchy, fine I'll go to the shop. Ok, keep your pants on chef! Ok bye. Sorry guys, my dad needs me at his Gramp's old shop, fun! I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

"Bye Bridge!"

"See ya girl!"

Huntress followed the young girl to the Electronics Shop, wondering if Jake just wanted to get it over with.

* * *

**So...what do you think?**

**Yes, Mrs. Norman is Haley, and no, she doesn't give her nephew any special priviledges...as you can see, she seems to get the most detention... and no, Haley doesn't take her anger towards Jake out on Bridgette, she's just being a fair teacher.**

**Bridgette seems to have some problems with her mom-**

**Bridgette: _Don't call her that!_**

**Case in point, and I rest my case :P Anyway, next update will be on _tuesday_! Here's a snippet of the next chapter...I think this is a good idea...does anyone really hate the preview/trailers?**

**_"Plus, I would be more worried about the fact that you just blamed the window on Fu."_**

**_"No Young Dragon, not at all."_**

**_"Then what...wait no, you're kidding, right? Me? A dragon? That's impossible!"_**

**_"Mr. Long, I do hope you're not trying to __flirt_ with me."**

**_"I just hugged my daughter."_**

**_"Do you know how to fight Dragoness?"_**

**_"Sweetheart please, listen to your father, just please, show us you're still there!"_**

**_"happy birthday sweetheart, many happy returns."_**


	3. An Eventful Birthday Gift

**Yep, another chapter :) I'm going to be busy tomorrow, so I'm posting this tongight. Enjoy!**

**It's filled to the brim with suspense and quite some revelations, so hopefully evreyone likes it!**

**Onej6: I'm glad that you find humour in what I write, I always wonder if it's too corny or not funny :P Nah, Mrs. Norman isn't evil...much. I had originally thought of making it Rotwood's kid or something, but I didn't know how to fit that in with the plot.**

**Luiz4200: [for both of your reviews, on this story and the previous one.] Will do :) I updated it now, hope you like it. We'll see next chapter what happens, since it will be mentioned then, but it might be a while since your question is answered.**

**Anyway, enjoy everyone, and if you want to ask me something because it doesn't make sense, please do! I don't mind answering them, it could even be that I made a mistake :O**

**So, please, review, and let me know what you;re thinking of the story :D**

* * *

==At the shop

"Hey Dad, hey Fu!" Bridge yelled, entering the back room of the shop. "Hey Gramps."

"Good afternoon Young One." Lao Shi said, sipping his tea.

"Hey Bridge. Argh, how many times have I told you Fu! Don't leave the window open!" Jake stormed off to close the window in another room.

"Calm down Dragon Boy, I was about to close it. Plus, I would be more worried about the fact that you just blamed the window on Fu." Huntress whispered, sitting on the beams in the ceiling.

"Shit." Walking back, he saw Bridge giving him a weird look.

"Dad, you just blamed a window on a _dog_...are you ok?"

"Bridgette, what do you know about magical creatures?"

"Come on Dad! Don't tell me that Mrs. Norman called you! I was _one _second late that's all!"

"Bridge, you just incriminated yourself." Her dad replied, smirking.

"Aww man!"

"Anyway, that aside, what do you know?"

"Not much, it's all a bunch of baloney that people do make up as fairy tales." Bridge said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Bridge, what would you say if I told you they were real?"

"I would say that you've had some heavy fumes damage your common sense from all that cooking you do."

Huntress snickered.

"That's a good one kid! I mean, uh woof?"

"AHH! Fu Dog just talked!"

"Smooth Fu" Jake and Huntress sighed, no one noticing the latter's reaction.

"Okay, you've got my attention dad. I didn't know you were a ventriloquist."

"Kid! I'm talking, no one is doing fancy schmancy voice throwing! I'm a magical creature. Well, more like a magical guardian." Fu Dog sat up, happy to be able to talk after all those years.

"Ok, so magical creatures exist, got it, thank you for the birthday gift dad."

"Not so fast Young One, there's more. Magical creatures don't just exist. _You_ are a magical creature yourself!"

"Say WHAT! Gramps, you honestly believe I'm an elf or a sprite?" Bridge roared.

"No Young Dragon, not at all."

"Then what...wait no, you're kidding, right? Me? A dragon? That's impossible!" Bridge said, backing up.

"Dragon up!" Jake exclaimed, transforming her dad into a magnificent red, yellow and green dragon.

Beside him, Lao Shi did the same thing, except no catchphrase, transforming him into a blue and white dragon.

"Now you try it kid!" Fu Dog encouraged.

"Dr-dragon up? AHH!" Blue flames engulfed her, transforming her into the blue and black dragon that her parents had seen once before. She looked at herself in the mirror, and then, after a couple of seconds, fainted, transforming into her human form again. Huntress leaped down from her hiding spot to catch her daughter before she fell to the ground.

"Woman, don't do that again! You're going to be the death of me!" Fu barked

"Well you weren't too subtle yourself Fu! Just start talking randomly why don't you!" Rose countered angrily, holding her daughter close to her.

"Rose is right Fu. That was not cool." Jake agreed, kneeling in front of his family.

"Agreed Fu Dog. Though I must say, she took that pretty well." Lao Shi said, continuing to sip his tea.

"That's not what worries me. The part about the Huntsclan does." Jake said, caressing Bridge's hair while Rose caressed Bridge's face.

"Jake, I know it's going to kill you, but you have to tell her that_ all_ the Huntsclan is evil ok? But tell her that in life threatening situations she is allowed to transform, that way if she has any injuries, I can treat her."

Bridge stirred. Huntress pushed her daughter towards her husband and once again went up to hide.

"Dad?" Bridge said.

"Hey honey. So, ready to continue tackling the magical world?" Jake replied, helping her up.

"No." Bridge said, taking her place on the sofa once again, while Jake took his.

"Good, because you still need to learn. You remember all those lessons I gave you on self defence and all? Well, they are about to become useful. Now, here comes the tricky part. Your enemies. Your enemies are the Huntsclan and some evil magical beings. Now dragons protect magical beings, so it's your responsibility as the new American Dragon, to protect everyone. Now, this starts getting complicated because the Huntsclan...well, they have to hide their identities as well, so um, erm, they wear masks and some wear hoods yeah."

Bridgette paled at this. "Dad, please tell me you didn't say that."

"I did. You see, I believe that that night, the Huntress, the leader of the Huntsclan, somehow got to your dreams and made you scared of her. I didn't tell you before because you wouldn't have believed me."

Jake looked up at the ceiling in a gesture of exasperation, and caught the Huntress giving him a '_are you positively bonkers?' _look.

"I guess that makes sense."

"Now, these are the info and names of all their main players, which aren't much." Fu Dog said, handing over a small pile of papers.

"Great, as if turning 13 wasn't bad enough."

==Later on that day, at Chef Long's

"Good evening ma'am, how may I help you?" the receptionist asked.

"I wish to speak to Chef Long." Jennifer Phillips answered.

"Well ma'am, he's quite busy you see..."

"You better take me to his office and call him before I end up making you mysteriously fired." The fashion designer threatened, her brown eyes turning the temperature in the room down by quite a couple of degrees.

"Very-very well ma'am, right this way." The receptionist spluttered, leading her through the throngs of dining people, and into a quiet hallway, where they went to the furthest room in the hall.

"Here you go ma'am. Please wait in here while I go get Chef Long." The receptionist spat.

"Good service is so hard to find." Jen muttered, going over to the desk, placing a silver gift back there and then went to go look at the wall of newspaper clippings. She heard the door open and close.

"_Well_, then how may _I_ help _you_?" Jake said seductively.

"Mr. Long, I do hope you're not trying to _flirt_ with me." Jen replied, turning around.

"Hey! What's up, what are you doing here?" He replied, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him and kissing her. Jen pushed him apart a bit, smiling mischievously at him.

"Mr. Long, aren't you married?"

"Happily." He grinned kissing her once again.

"So, how is Bridge taking it all in?"

"She's getting there."

"You have also got to be the most stupid idiot ever! I made her scared of me by attacking her in her dreams? Are you mad! Though I guess it would make sense, it's just one more lie in the pile. Anyway, are you taking her out to patrol tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm going to try it, not sure how it's going to go."

"Just in case, I'll take only Huntsgirl and Huntsboy, that way no one can harm her for real. I'll try seeing what I can do. By the way, here's her gift." Jen held out a silver gift bag she had deposited on his desk when she came in.

"Thanks. Wait, I already got Bridge her gift. What's this one?"

"It's my gift to her. Trust me, just say it's from a friend."

"Oh, I'll take your word for it."

"Better do Dragon Boy." She passed by him to leave.

"Rose..."

"Yeah?" She answered, turning around.

"I-"Someone was knocking on the door.

"Dad? Are you there?" Came from the other side of the door.

The two parents paled. How was he going to explain this? Jen got an idea, and she winked at him.

"Well, Mr. Long, I'll talk to my friends to see what they think. Oh, hi there." Jen said, opening the door on to the awestruck almost 13 year old.

"H-hi, you're Jen Phillips aren't you?"

"Yep, and what's your name?"

"Bridgette Long."

"Mr. Long, I wasn't aware your daughter was so grown up!"

"Yeah, turning 13 in a couple of hours actually." Jake chuckled, leaning on his desk.

"Well happy birthday then. Well, I hope you don't mind, but with my friends we have this tradition of hugging the birthday guy or girl."

Bridgette was shocked when the famous designer kneeled so she was eye level with her and hugged her. Bridgette hugged her back courteously, and strangely, it felt good, it felt right. Bridgette didn't know how long it would be right to hug her for, so she let go awkwardly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hug that long." Bridgette mumbled.

"It's ok sweetheart, no need to be sorry." Jen whispered as she winked at her. She stood up. "Well Mr. Long, I'll talk to my friends, and I'll let you know what we decide. Happy Birthday Bridgette." And she left.

"Well Birthday Girl, you've met Jen Phillips. You may faint now."

"Very funny dad. Wow... I knew you catered to the high and mighty, but this just tops it all! I'm sure Mrs. Spudinski would love to have been here."

"I'm sure she would've. Anyway, let's get going."

==At the Huntsclan.

"Hey Rose, how're things going?" David asked the woman that had just teleported there.

"Uh, they're-they're good." Rose was very pale and yet she felt happy.

"Rose, what's up, you look like you've seen a ghost, and yet you're smiling?" Haley asked the awestruck woman.

Rose looked at them and said "I just hugged my daughter."

"Oh dear. David, go and busy yourself with your papers, I need to talk to my sister in law, make sure no one interrupts us." Haley ordered, shooing her husband out and sitting beside the happy mother.

"Rose, get a grip on yourself! I know you're happy but calm down!" Haley playfully reprimanded her friend.

"Sorry Haley, but it just felt so great! I wonder if Bridgette felt it too?"

"She must have been more freaked out that a famous fashion designer hugged her rather than the actual fact that her _mother _might have been the one giving the hug."

"Very funny. Anyway, we need to get ready. You and your husband are going to be meeting my daughter for the first, or rather for you, the second time."

"Sounds good." Haley left the woman to change while she went to grab David and they got dressed. They met up after a couple of minutes and got on their hoverboards. They went towards Central Park.

==Central Park

"Dad what if they don't show up tonight?" The young blue dragon piped up from her hiding spot.

"Don't worry, they always do." Jake replied, standing in the clearing.

Just then, as if on cue, a stampede of unicorns, along with two masked people came out from the thick of the tress to the clearing they were standing in.

"Dragon!" The woman screamed brandishing her staff, turning her attention to Jake, and along with the man, they started nearing him, letting the unicorns get away.

"Remember Bridge, just stay hidden." Her dad launched into an attack against the two figures while Bridge watched, amazed. Suddenly, she heard some rustling and stiffened up. She then heard someone whisper in her ear "so, the American Dragon has a little sidekick learning the tricks of the trade huh?"

Bridge gulped before turning around to look at the woman who haunted her nightmares. "You!" Bridge breathed, not knowing what to do.

"Do you know how to fight Dragoness?" The woman half smirked from where she was crouched.

"I can kick your butt!" The blue dragon shouted, sounding more confident than she felt, not meeting the cloaked and masked woman's gaze.

"Let me make you a proposition. If you'll let me, I'll teach you how to defend yourself." The Huntress offered, holding a hand out to the young dragon.

Bridge backed up in fright. She backed up into the clearing where the three that were fighting stopped in favour of looking in curiosity at the young blue dragon that kept on backing up from the woman's steady advancing form.

Jake flew up and away from the two secondary hunters and flew in between his daughter and Huntress. He winked at the supposed evil woman. "Yo Huntress, what do you think you're doing?"

"Well Dragon Boy, I have a certain code of ethics, and that includes the policy on capturing inexperienced dragons. I won't capture or harm them, for it would show a complete incapability of being able to capture a fully fledged dragon such as yourself and instead, having to resort to capturing weaker opponents. In other words, I don't capture beginner dragons, such as Dragoness over there."

"I uh, I guess, so what about it?"

"I wish to teach her how to defend herself a bit, that way she won't react like she did back there. Huntsgirl, Huntsboy, you two are dismissed. Go back to the complex."

"Yes Huntress," the two replied, getting on their hoverboards and leaving the family alone.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt." Jake replied, rubbing the back of his neck, stepping aside.

"Now, stand up Dragoness." Huntress stated.

Bridge did as she was told. She was about as tall as the Huntress, and the latter advanced towards the dragon, who started to back up.

"Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you." _Ever, _Huntress softly said, leaving the last word as a silent thought, almost as a promise to her daughter, holding her hands up in a gesture of surrender. "My gear is not on me, and there is no way for me to hurt you, except by hand to hand."

"I don't trust you."

"I never said you had to. I just don't want to have brought in a dragon because she was dead afraid of me."

"I am NOT that scared! You just used some cheap mind control trick on me!"

"Really? Is that so? That's not how I see it. I see a dragon who's scared shitless of me, and is trying to put up a front, but failing miserably at it. Now, look me in the eye and tell me you don't fear me." Huntress taunted, hating what she was doing, but knowing she had to.

Bridge flared her nostrils, making some steam come out. Everytime she tried looking at Huntress, she always veered off, afraid of what she would find in those steely eyes. After several unsuccessful tries, Huntress scoffed and took matters into her own hands, literally. She grabbed the dragon's face and shoved it right in front of hers, her eyes making contact with the dragon's.

"Now, tell me. Do you fear me?" Huntress snarled.

Bridgette just kept on looking at the eyes. They seemed ferocious, but, in the back, there was a friendliness about them, a sense of playfulness that gave Bridge the sense that this was a joke, and that the Huntress had no intention of harming her, as she said, but the unspoken _ever_ also resounding.

"Answer me Dragoness!" Huntress said. Bridge noted the anger, but also noted the fear, as if she was afraid, but pretending to be angry. Bridge wasn't feeling well, she felt like she couldn't open her mouth, and was silently losing focus.

"Jake, I think something's wrong with her." Huntress said, alarmed. _How did she know dad's name? Wait, that day she also mentioned dad by his name. But no, that was impossible, she was the enemy! Dad wouldn't give his identity away, she would slay him!_

"Bridge, honey, answer us, please, move your head, anything!" Jake said, kneeling beside his daughter and wife, who was still holding Bridge, but by the shoulders now. _No dad! You gave my identity away! Why would you do that?_

"Sweetheart please, listen to your father, just please, show us you're still there!"Huntress pleaded, her eyes getting more worried by the second. _She knows a lot about us! That's strange, why would she call me sweet-_

Bridge's eyes closed as she lost consciousness. Huntress put her hand to the young dragon's chest, searching for a heartbeat. She sighed and broke away when she heard it. "I think I went too far with it."

"You think? Don't worry, I know why you did what you did. I don't approve of it, but, what's done is done." Jake said, putting an arm around Huntress's shoulders.

"We should probably get her back. I think she's had enough of this dragon business for today." Huntress replied, seeing the young dragon transform into a young girl again.

"Sounds good, do you want to come?" Jake asked as he picked his daughter up.

"Jake, if she finds me there, she'll go ballistic. I think it's best that I keep my distance." She then neared the young girl and kissed her forehead, saying "happy birthday sweetheart, many happy returns." The Huntress then got on her hoverboard and left, but not towards the Huntsclan.

* * *

**Man, this was qutie something right? [not even the crickets chirp, they ran away]**

**Anywho... Bridgette is now a dragon, and she got a nervous breakdown [I think that's wha they are called] and freaks her parents out. What will happen next? I know, and so will you on wednesday! Yep, it's now on wednesday because I am finding so much time to write, things are going quite rapidly.**

**Meanwhile, enjoy a little snippet of next chapter!**

**"Sis! I missed you so much!"**

**"Will you relax! You'll wake my husband and daughter!"**

**"We're going to New York."**

**"If those dreams consisted of me talking kid, they weren't dreams!"**

**"Till next time Dragon, and like I said before, I shall not forgive you."**

**"Fu, my dad is a great cook, but a _terrible_ liar. Do you know who did?"**

**"Oh my God! Long is actually kissing someone?"**

**"My office, _now_."**

**"Thank you for deciding to take time away from your busy social lives and join us."**

**Hezpeller**


	4. A Little Bit of Comfort, A Lot of Love

**New Chapter! Ok, I think I should try to clarify some things about Rose.**

**Rose didn't raise Bridge because she wanted Bridge to have a normal life. However, this brought some unwanted consequences. **

**Although Rose visited Bridge and Jake many times, and during the first few months of Bridgette's birth, she helped Jake everyday, she didn't want Bridgette to grow up with the false idea of a mother who couldn't be there for her. **

**Being leader of the Huntsclan is a 24/7/365 days job. And when Bridgette saw the Huntress that night, they didn't know how to react. They could't tell Bridgette the truth then, because back then, Bridgette didn't know about dragons. They can't tell her the truth now, because they're afraid of how Bridgette might react. Bridgette hates the woman who gave birth to her with as much hate as you can possibly muster. **

**Think about it this way, if your mom/dad left, and you knew they were alive, and you had no concrete reason for their absence, wouldn't you also hate them? Bridgette believes that Rose left because she didn't love her, and no way would she even begin to trust her enough to listen for the reason.**

**Now comes the next question: Why didn't Rose just quit or give the leadership role to someone else? **

**Well, she can't quit, because if someone else [a random person] gets control of the Huntsclan and starts going back to the methods Avezon used, there would be no future for magical creatures.**

**She can't give Haley the job because she's not initiated. What do I mean? As much as Haley hates her brother, she wouldn't be able to organize attacks against her own kind, and heading a successful mission is the initiation process. [I know that in the show it supposed to be killing a dragon, but that seems too high end, I mean, it's something you strive to do, and you need to start small, so this is my version of the initiation.]**

**She can't give David the job because he's still considered the local joker, so no one will take him seriously, and they would eventually overthrow him.**

**She can't give the job to Gwen because, no matter how ferocious she is, Avezon often bragged to the rest of the clan that he mistreated his wife. So, if they know that, they would use that to take control of her, also known as blackmailing.**

**Hopefully that makes it as clear as ice...d tea :P**

**If you're still confused, let me know, I don't mind explaining :)**

**Luiz4200: Hopefully the above helped to clarify that. She wouldn't forgive her mother after all that, in fact, she might think her mother is lying to her. Hope you like this chapter.**

**Wolvmbm: Thanks! Hope the above made it more clearer. Nope, sorry, Bridgette doesn't know anything about her mother. The only thing she knows is what she said, that she has blue eyes and is still alive. Thanks once again, glad you like this story! Hope you like this chapter!**

**Onej6: Thanks! Yeah, I always try to go for a balance, or else it's too serious, or too cheesy. Enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

==Washington

The air was cool, typical for an autumn night, and Knight could see that tonight would be a calm one. All the magical creatures were excited for the prospect of being able to innocuously go out tomorrow for Halloween. Once she finished her patrol, she went back to her apartment, going to grab a snack before going to bed. On the kitchen counter she saw a sight she would have thought that she would never see again, a vase with a single rose in it. It looked to be a bit shrivelled, as if it was sick. The protector picked the rose and saw a card attached to it saying: _the angel needs help from her knight, can she talk?_

Violet didn't know what to do. How was she to reply? "Rose? Are you here sis? Where are you?"

From the darkness, a figure appeared. Violet hadn't seen her sister in 13 years, and still couldn't see her due to the fact that she was still in her Huntsclan uniform.

"Sis! I missed you so much!" Violet jumped on her sister, not thinking about why she was there, only that she was. "Why didn't you come visit me? I know I told you not to visit me, but I wasn't being serious! I thought you knew I was joking around!"

"I knew you were joking around Vi, but you could say I was threatened not to go near again by our wonderful parents." Rose replied, relishing in the feel of being with her sister again.

Vi broke away from her sister at this. "Since when do _you_ listen to them?"

"Since they threatened to not only expose my secret, but to also put a price on my head, for the Dragon Council and Protectors alike to join."

"Ouch, good point. Well, anyway, if anyone even dares to try it, I'll smash their brains." She grinned. "But something tells me this wasn't a leap of faith to have a social conversation with me."

Rose sat down and took her hood and mask off, and explained everything to her twin sister, from the day she left to today. Hours went by, but Vi listened to her sister, her heart breaking at the situation.

"Sis, I don't know what to do! My daughter hates and fears me! And what will happen when she finds out it's been _me_ she's been afraid of! Her own mother!"

"Rose, I can't say I understand what you're going through, but I can try to help you."

"How? Making my daughter not fear the Huntress?" Rose scoffed.

"Nope, by moving there."

"Say what!" Rose had clearly picked up some expressions from her husband.

"Will you relax? You'll wake my husband and daughter!" Vi playfully scoffed her sister.

"You...are married?"

"Yes we are, and who in the world might I ask, are you?" Replied a man in the doorway, not looking overall happy at having been woken up, the reason for him waking up being the small child clutching her father's leg. Rose was glad she was sitting in the shadows, not wanting to face her sister's family. She put her mask on and hood up, slowly backing up further into the shadows.

"Henry, please, can you just give us a minute, I promise I'll explain everything, to you too Holly." Violet pleaded, getting a nod from the little 10-year old, and a playful scoff from her husband.

"Sweetheart that might be the case, unless our _guest_ leaves."

Violet turned around frantically and saw, to her dismay that Rose was no longer there. "Honey, turn on the lights." When Henry did that, they saw that the whole kitchen was empty.

"Henry, you can tell your boss you'll take your promotion. We're going to New York." Violet replied, determined to get to her sister.

==En route to NYC

Rose couldn't believe it_. How could I have been so careless and inconsiderate! I just barge into my sister's house, whom I haven't seen in 13 years, and, not even bothering to ask about her, I just plunge into my problems like it's nothing, like some unfeeling and inconsiderate idiot. It's best that I left before she got ideas into her head._

==Next Day, Long Household

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Bridge, happy birthday to you!" Jake sang, as he went up to his daughter, who looked like she had an intergalactic bed war with her covers, which were thrown all around the bed and out of it as well.

"Morning Daddy! Man I had the strangest dream yesterday night-"

"If those dreams consisted of me talking kid, they weren't dreams!" Fu said, jumping up on the bed.

"Great...all that I needed, more reason for people to think I'm mentally unstable" Bridge scoffed, getting up from her bed and making her way past her dad to go downstairs and make breakfast.

Jake sighed as he followed her downstairs, along with Fu, who asked "what are you talking about kid? You're perfectly normal and sane!"

"Uh huh, yeah Fu, I'm a 13 year old dragon, whose father is also a magical dragon and protector of NYC, who lives with a 700 year old Sharpei who talks, and let's not forget that I'm mortally afraid of my enemy, and what the hell happened last night dad? How did the Huntress know your name? Why did you give her my name and why on this green Earth did she call me _sweetheart_?"

"Um, I think you're hallucinating Bridge, if there's one thing she doesn't know is your name or mine...I have no idea what happened, but I think you just freaked out and froze, and in order to calm yourself, your subconscious tried to make the Huntress seem less intimidating?" Jake said, not even seeing how it made sense, but hoping it did.

Bridge was totally not convinced. She wore a scowl of total disbelief, with a raised arched eyebrow, one that would rival that of her mother's. "Right dad, of course, you know, my offer still stands of taking you to meet Fitz's parents, they're psychologists."

"Ha ha, very funny Bridge."

"I'm serious, I-"She stopped as she entered the kitchen "Aww, thanks for making breakfast dad!"

Jake and Fu both looked at each other with expressions of confusion. They rushed inside and saw that Bridge wasn't being sarcastic, and that there really was a breakfast prepared, but Jake didn't make it, having just woken up himself.

"Yeah sure, no problem honey." Jake said, as he looked at the abundant feast he saw on the table. Bridgette and Fu both dug in, while Jake stood perplexed. "Come on and join in dad before Fu finishes all of it."

"Hey! I need to keep up my strength, alright kid!" Fu countered.

"Listen, I need to go to work, so behave, get to class on time, and after school, get to Gramps shop, where you'll have some training. Then when I call, come to the restaurant ok?"

"Sure dad, sounds good." Bridge said, her mouth full. Jake went, changed, and with a kiss on the birthday girl's head, he left.

==At Chef Long's

Jake was glad that it was early in the morning, that way he didn't have to deal with bitchy receptionists. He really needed to talk to the guy in charge of hiring receptionists, but now, he had more pressing matters. He entered his office and got the surprise of his life at who was sitting there. "Ro-Rose?"

The woman turned around and scoffed "You wish Dragon. But, speaking of which, where is my sister?"

"Hi Violet, nice to see you too. I have no idea where she is, why?"

"Because she came to visit me yesterday, after 13 years, crying an ocean about how your daughter hates and fears her, then when she realized that I was married and with a kid, she bolted as if I had shown her I had a third eye or something."

"Huh. I have no clue. She felt bad about yesterday and-wait, she told you everything?"

"Yes Dragon, she was there for hours. I know what happened from the day I left up to yesterday night, or rather, this morning."

"Oh, well, I know she felt bad about it, and she left, and this morning someone cooked breakfast for us, and I believe it was her. But I haven't seen her. She sometimes visits for a while and then-"

"Leaves for times on end, thank you Dragon I knew that. I recently moved here, my husband is also a Protector that left, and we're both going to be here helping. Now, I will confer with your Grandfather and get more straight answers from him. Meanwhile, I don't want you to mention a word about me, or who I really am, to your daughter. I trust that, with what Rose said, if I even show her my face, she'll run like there's no tomorrow. Got this dragon?" Vi spat, her contempt for the man in front of her quite clear.

"I see that you still kept your charm. I'm surprised your husband is able to stand it. Then again, if you were to swallow your pride and forget that incident with Haley, we might be able to get something done." Jake replied, mirroring the attitude of the woman in the room.

"Till next time Dragon, and like I said before, I shall not forgive you."

"Come on! Haley got married and had kids there! She's happy!"

"And yet, she doesn't visit you. A bit contradicting wouldn't you say? When she forgives you, I will think about being more civilized to you." With that, she left, leaving behind a very angry dragon.

==Back at the Long household

"Fu, who _did_ prepare breakfast? That wasn't dad!" Bridge asked.

"What're you talking about kid? Course it was the old man! He's a _chef_!"

"Fu, my dad is a great cook, but a _terrible_ liar. Do you know who did?"

"Kid, you should have more faith on Jake."

"Right, just like one day he'll tell me_ all_ about the woman who gave birth to me." Bridge scoffed.

"You mean your mom?" Fu clarified.

"_Don't_! Don't call her that ok? She gave birth to me and that's all! Nothing more." Bridge retorted, getting angry. "Anyway, I have to get going. Bye Fu. See you after school."

==At School

Bridge was nearing the school on her skateboard when she felt an arm rope around her neck as someone in a fairy costume yelled "Happy Birthday girl! Now you finally 13 like the rest of us! How do you feel?"

"Thank you Art for attacking me! I want to live past 13, not die at 13!" Bridge choked, trying to get away from her friend's grip. She ducked her head under, and lost her balance. She did what any other normal person would do when they're about to fall on their back. She tilted forward. That would've worked if she wasn't on a skateboard, and so she plummeted forward, and into someone.

"Ouf! I'm so sorry I-"Bridge apologized, but she stopped as she saw who it was.

"Hey Bridgette" James replied, giving her a smile. He was very handsome in his Robin Hood outfit.

"You can just call me Bridge. I'm so sorry James! I was trying to get out of my friend's grip, but I lost my balance and fell." Bridge said, sitting up and blushing.

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

"Oh, oops, here I am, keeping you down on the ground." Bridge got up and offered a hand to him. He took it and they helped each other up. She looked up at him a smiled, as did he.

They didn't realize how close they were, or that Fitz was going out of control with his board, who was trying to keep his knight costume on and was making a beeline for the two teenagers, with no way to stop.

As he yelled "Look out dudes!" he crashed into them, they fell once again, but this time, their lips were locked. Fitz managed to get up, and started blushing seeing what he caused.

The two kissing teenagers were in no way minding Fitz's crash. In fact, they were in no way minding anything. Except for...

"Oh my God! Long is actually kissing someone?" Came the shrill voice of one of the most obnoxious girls in the whole school, Amanda (Amy) Morton, the daughter of Stacey and Brad, who was dressed quite appropriately as a witch.

The two teens broke apart, as if they had just realized what had happened. They were both blushing a thousand shades of red that would've made Jake's dragon colour pale in comparison. They helped each other up, but Amy was far from over.

"So Long, is that the only way you can get a date? By getting your friends to crash into you and the boy of your dreams? Puh-lease! That is _such_ a _cheap_ trick. Now James, don't worry you don't have to feel guilty or anything, just come hang out with us, and we can leave those losers alone."

James looked positively seething. "You know what? You might think you're all that, but you're nothing but a bitch! Why would you go and say those things about my _girlfriend_? What do you have against her huh?"

Bridge looked completely astounded at the fact that not only was James sticking up for her, but he called her his girlfriend! She exchanged a glance with Art and Fitz, who were looking at her with the silent question of 'when did you guys hook up?' she shrugged as means of replying.

"She's your what? I think your head got damaged when you fell James. You just called Long your GF? Please, don't make me laugh!" Amy scoffed.

"Oh no, the only one that's going to be laughing is me when you explain to me what's going on here." Mrs. Norman spoke from behind Amy, her face deadpan, arms crossed in front of her.

"Mrs. Norman! There's no need, we're all just joking around." Amy said, showing the sweetness that instantly gets people to take sympathy on her.

Bridgette was ready to have Mrs. Norman to shrug it off, but was pleasantly surprised when Mrs. Norman shook her head and replied "no way Ms. Morton, you're not getting away that easily. My office, _now_." Her tone got icier at every word, with the 'now' being quite terrifying. Amy was at least sensible enough to not continue arguing with the angry teacher.

As the two left, Art came up to them, with Fitz beside her "man, that girl is a nasty piece of work. You do realize that the witch is now going to want your heads?"

"Please, she already hates me, there's not much more she can do. Thanks for sticking up to me James." Bridgette replied, blushing.

"Hey, it's not a problem!" James replied, giving her a sly grin.

"And uh, you didn't have to pretend to be my boyfriend, thanks though." Bridgette said, getting more uncomfortable by the minute.

"Well, now it starts getting complicated, because uh, I didn't pretend." James replied, getting quite nervous himself.

"Come on Fitz, let's get out of here before I gag!" Art replied, dragging the knight into the school.

Bridgette giggled at this. James shook his head while smiling "well then, I think we managed to alienate them, so what do you say, want to go out with me?"

"Hmm, I don't know, you didn't put a very convincing argument as to why I should say yes." Bridge replied, smirking.

"Oh? I thought sticking up for you and defending you from her Royal Witchiness was enough?" James countered.

"So is that what you're telling me? You needed the witch to get us together?"

"No, but she did help."

"I'll be sure to send her lots of gift baskets every anniversary we have."

"I'm sure she'll love it."

"If she doesn't throw them at our heads."

"True. Now will you answer my question?"

"My answer is yes."

"So you'll go out with me!"

"I never said that, I only said I would answer your question."

"Why you little-"

"I'm kidding! Will you calm down? Geez, not even one hour together and we're already fighting!" Bridge was laughing by now.

James decided this would be a good time to kiss her. As they kissed, they heard the warning bell. They broke apart and blushed, and rushed off to class, mythology.

"Thank you for deciding to take time away from your busy social lives and join us." Mrs. Norman smirked.

"But we're early!" Bridgette said as she and James sat down.

"Congrats, I'll be sure to mention that at the next parent's teacher conference. First and only occasion you're on time. To celebrate, you can all read chapter 3 of your textbook while I go get something from my office."

After she left, Amy got up from her seat and made her way to the four friends. "Thanks Long, now I have to do detention after school for 1 hour!"

"You're very welcome. Glad I could realize your true dream."

"Don't you feel all brave finally turning 13. Don't have anyone dressed up in a hood or mask to scare you?"

"Buzz off Amy." Fitz retorted.

"Aww, that's so sweet Long, you're getting your friends to learn to fight back for you!"

"Why don't you shut your mouth Morton before I punch it!" Art said standing up and raising her fist up for emphasis.

"Please. I don't know how it's possible your _mom_ is the author of the column that I always read, you're always hanging out with unfashionable people like Long. But as it stands, you dress pretty fashionable. As for you Fitz, your parent_s_ are my parent_s_' psychiatrists so you should have some sense like they do and see you're hanging out with a weakling who can't defend herself like Long. And you James are just plain cute and hot, why you would want to go out with a girl who's scared of people in hoods and masks? So why don't you three just ditch Long here, who is unfashionable, doesn't have a mom, is weak, afraid of costumes and just plain dumb, and come and join us?"

Bridgette was shocked beyond words. The witch had hit all her touchy spots, and knew it. James saw this and exploded.

"What is your problem? Is that all you have against her? That she doesn't have a mom? How low can you get? So what if she is afraid? So what? It doesn't make her any less of a person! I don't have a dad, does that make me any less of a man?

"It must if you actually can stomach going out with Long."

"That's it, you're getting it Morton!" Art said, rolling her sleeves up.

Bridge grabbed her friend's arm, stopping her, shaking her head. "She's not worth it. She's just jealous that I only have my dad. You see, she's got two parents, but they don't give her the time of day, so she's jealous that with just my dad, I get more attention and love, more friends, and even a boyfriend."

Amy hurled her hand across Bridge's face. She slapped with such a force that Bridge lost her balance and smacked her face on the desk.

"Bridge!" Her three friends exclaimed. James went to Bridge and was trying to help her. Fitz was helping James, leaving Art free to advance on the witch. "Oh, now you're getting it bitch!"

"I couldn't agree more , but not with the method you're approaching." Mrs. Norman stood at the door, her scowl quite penetrating. "Ms. Morton, you have just earned yourself a trip to the principal's office. I want you to tell him what you did, and I hope you learn to not do that again. What are you still standing there? Get!"

Amy bolted from the room. Mrs. Norman made her way to where James was sitting with his arms around Bridgette. Fitz was calming Art using techniques he learned from his parents. The other students were all shocked.

"Ms. Long, are you alright?" Mrs. Norman asked, kneeling down to the girl's eyelevel.

"I'm ok, it just stings a bit." Bridge mumbled, not meeting anyone's gaze. James had been trying to get a good look at her face, but she moved away from his touch every time, eventually settling with just hugging her.

"Come on Bridgette, I'm taking you to the health room." She held her hand out to the scared girl, who took it, albeit reluctantly. She pulled, and got the girl to stand up. Mrs. Norman addressed everyone in the class "Please continue reading the chapter."

With that, she walked out of the room, with the girl beside her. As they entered the health room, she escorted Bridgette to the bed. "Now, where does it hurt?"

"It's nothing, I'm fine."

"Bridgette, please, everyone knows that you got struck pretty badly. Will you just let me look?" Mrs. Norman grabbed the girl's face with both hands, feeling the warmth from where the other girl struck under her hand. With Amy slapping her, a barrier had been broken, making her feel scared and vulnerable.

Mrs. Norman checked Bridgette's face, making sure that there was nothing broken, and no damage done. Well, physically there was no damage done, but she could see that Bridgette's eyes were clouding over, the tears not quite visible yet. Mrs. Norman bit her lip, and thought _screw this_. She knew Bridgette needed a hug, and that's exactly what she did. Rules and regulations didn't matter when a child needed comfort. Especially when that child was her nephew.

Bridgette was stupefied, her teacher was actually hugging her. "Don't worry darling, don't let her get to you." Mrs. Norman soothed.

Bridgette was dumbfounded to say the least. "Thanks Mrs. Norman, I, thanks."

"No problem darling, but that doesn't mean you get out of this weekend's homework, birthday or not!" She playfully scolded her.

"Aww man!"

Hearing that very famous line reminded her "I will need to speak with your father about this, so, go back to class, and I'm going to go see how Ms. Morton is doing."

* * *

**It seems falling in love with their enemy runs in the family, wouldn't you say?**

**And Haley is getting more intimate with Bridge [in a familial way, don't be getting ideas]**

**Anyone else want to punch Amy all the way to mars? [mass of people shut _yeah!_ and start taking out their pitchforks and frying pans (what have I done?)]**

**Anywho, next update is: tomorrow! Yep, that's right, special for the holidays, every day a new chapter!**

**Here's a snippet of what awaits you tomorrow!**

_"Yes Mr. Long, she's fine, in a way. Would you mind coming down to the school for a talk?"_

_"Oh yes, parent_s_-teacher conference."_

_"So, why exactly did you say Bridgette was fine 'in a way'?"_

_"It's nowhere really, just helping my mom with her stuff, that's all."_

_"Fu! How was it that you were able to hold off for 13 years without saying a word, but now you can't hold yourself!"_

_"Question! Ok, who's the Huntress?"_

_"Her name is the Guardian Knight,"_

**Alright, hopefully everyone enjoyed it!**

**Hezpeller**


	5. Of Knights and Dragons

**Well, as promised, here's today's chapter! It's a bit shorter than my other ones, but it's setting up for quite a lot :/**

**Wolvmbm: Hmm, strong feelings will be coming around, but I will always continue with my ever wonderful twists, and hopefully keep you guys on the edge of your seats :) Thanks! I didn't really know how to properly introduce Violet back again, but this worked out nicely. Thank you so much for the praises! :)**

**Buddyboy98: Thank you! I'm glad you're liking it so much :) Oh dear, if your readers find that out, _I'm_ going to be the one being run after with masses of pitchforks and frying pan wielding fans :P Glad you like her :) Well, wait no more, because here is the next chapter!**

**Luiz4200: The way I see it, if Jake were to tell the truth, Bridgette would be pissed off that everyone she knows knew about this secret, except for her, Art and Fitz, and therefore, she would be skeptical about whether or not Jake is hiding something else from her, leading to the mistrust in her father and Rose. If he told her that during the dragon revelation, it would've just confused, frightened and angered the poor girl even more. Plus, what would be the point of that? "Hey Bridge, this is your mother, she's pretending to be our arch-nemesis for the past 13 years, but she loves you a lot. However, she can't be with you." Hardly an ice-breaker don't you think? I don't know, that's my thinking and my reasoning behind it, if you don't like it, then sorry, hopefully it doesn't deter you from the story. :) We'll find out soon what the deal is with Violet and her Husband. Rose, well, she's the leader of the Huntsclan, so she's trying the best she can, but she's got a reputation to maintain. So, she gets rid of the magical creatures that are evil as well. To everyone else, it just seems like Rose gets rid of magical creatures, but to those that know the truth, she's just helping Jake with his duties. Hopefully this makes it clearer :D**

**If anyone has any questions, don't worry, I don't mind answering them! Enjoy!**

* * *

==Sometime during lunch.

"Mr. Long, this is Mrs. Norman from calling about Bridgette-"

"Is she alright?"

"Yes Mr. Long, she's fine, in a way. Would you mind coming down to the school for a talk?"

"Yeah, definitely, I'll be there is five." With that, he hung up, wondering what Bridgette did to get herself into trouble this time.

Mrs. Norman wasn't done though. She dialled a number on her cellphone, since this was a more personal call.

"Ander's Lake Tours, humour me." Came the bored voice on the other end.

"I will, believe me. Slow day?"

"Haley what's wrong?"

"It's about Bridgette, can you come to my office at school?"

"Is she alright?" _déjà vu much?_ Haley mused, she decided to give her the same answer.

"Yes, she's fine, in a way. Just come in the next 5 minutes."

"Will be there." And she hung up.

Some minutes later, Jake burst through the door.

"Haley? You're Bridgette's teacher? Never would've guessed...I thought you graduated in business?"

"The surprise is clearly noted Jake, but we're not here to talk about my career choices. If you must know, I went back to university with David and we both became teachers. David teaches in the Huntsclan, I teach here. Now-"

"What happened?" Huntress made her entrance, and then caught sight of Jake and Jake of her.

"Oh yes, parent_s_-teacher conference." Haley smirked.

"What happened?" Jake wanted to know, as his wife sat down beside him.

"What happened is that your daughter got into a ferocious argument of sorts with Amy Morton, daughter of Brad and Stacey, whom I believe you know of? Anyway, the point is that Ms. Morton thought it would be a good idea to start teasing Bridgette, among other things, about the fact that she doesn't have a mother."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"What I mean is that, after Ms. Morton got detention for bullying your daughter on the fact that she was kissing a boy-"

"Say WHAT! Who- what?" Jake spluttered.

"James Avezon, also known as the Hunter, it seems like falling in love with our enemies runs in the family. But that's not the point. The point is that Bridgette is very easily hurt with the fact that she doesn't have a mother! And people like Ms. Morton exploit that! I know you guys are doing this the best you can, and Jake, you're ready to start tearing me apart because you still blame me, but try to work something out! Please! I'm ready to help."

"So, why exactly did you say Bridgette was fine 'in a way'?" Rose asked, her voice edging on danger, wondering why Haley left that part out.

"Well, don't go all out and murder her, but Ms. Morton slapped Bridgette in such a way that she fell and hit her head on the desk. Luckily her hair worked off the impact, so she wasn't hurt. She was more hurt emotionally. This pretty much means that it will be a very memorable birthday for her."

"I would make sure to look like an accident." Rose muttered.

"Uh huh, right, you're not going to gain anything from that." Haley replied.

"Except of getting rid of her." Rose shrugged. "But you win, I'll leave her alone, for now.

"Argh, fine, I-I don't know what we could do! I mean, we can't exactly say 'Hey honey, here's your new mother!'" Jake groaned.

"No, but I do have an idea." Rose replied, and started to tell the two siblings of her plan.

==After school

"Hey Bridge! Wait up!" James yelled, running up to her. "Soo, want to go do something for your birthday during the weekend? A movie or something?"

"Sure, that sounds great, I would invite you to my party, but my dad, he's quite protective. He interrogated Fitz for a month thinking that he was trying to date me."

"And believe you me, Mr. Long can get quite ferocious. I don't think that the government is that bad. I still think he's not entirely convinced." Fitz said, coming up to them.

"Trust me boy, you best lay low for a while, and then slowly make your way to Mr. Long. That's a foolproof plan." Art added.

"Ok, thanks. So, when you free?" James asked.

"Saturday I'm spending the day at Art's. Sunday ok with you?"

"Sunday's great, I'll make sure my mom doesn't put me on a shift."

"Oh, where do you work?" Fitz asked.

"It's nowhere really, just helping my mom with her stuff, that's all." James shrugged, careful to keep this in a vague manner. He didn't want to involve anyone with his things at the Huntsclan, especially Bridgette. It made him feel like a murderer.

"Sounds good" Bridgette said, kissing him.

"Come on Juliet, we gotta get going." Art sighed, grabbing on to the birthday girl's hood and pulling it.

==At the Electronics shop.

"You know, I'm trying to see if I can get a replacement for my old TV, think I could see if I get anything?" Fitz asked.

"Sure, but you might break their slogan of never had a customer, never had a sale." Bridge shrugged.

"Come on girl! You don't honestly believe that after all those years of being here, your great gramps never had a customer or a sale?" Art retorted.

"Hey, don't go attacking me! They're the ones that are always saying that! I don't believe it either!" Bridge replied, putting her hands up in a gesture of surrender.

The three friends go into the shop and are looking through the shop when they all hear "Kid where have you been! The old man wants to get started and... oh boy"

"Fu! How was it that you were able to hold off for 13 years without saying a word, but now you can't hold yourself!" Bridge fumed.

"The dog...just talked...girl, what the hell is going on!" Art spluttered.

"Uh...I'm not dreaming right? There is an actual talking dog standing there." Fitz said sounding weirded out.

"Um, well, how do I put this? Erm, Fu is a magical 700 year old talking dog."

"Oh, that's cool, I guess." Fitz replied "But why do you guys have a magical talking dog?"

"Well..."

"Ayah! What is going on here!" Gramps exclaimed, coming from the back room, seeing who was there.

"Well Gramps, Fu Dog kind of blabbed with these two here." Bridge said.

"Ayah Fu Dog! Why aren't you more careful!"

"I see things haven't changed here at all." A voice spoke from behind Lao Shi. It was a ninja in a grotesque frowning mask. From her spot in the dark, she could see her nephew for the first time. She resembled Rose in so many ways. The gestures, the flashing eyes, they were all dead give always. But now, the girl was looking at her as if she saw a ghost. With a pang, she remembered that the girl was afraid of her because she was wearing a mask, but she knew that if she took it off, the child would recognize herself in her features, and wrongly assume that she was her mother. She was also noticing that she didn't know her name.

"Gramps, who is that?" Bridge said, paling.

"I think the best thing to do is to bring everyone up to speed before we continue to add more sand to the truck." Lao Shi said, full of proverbs as always.

"Fine. You see, my dad, and Gramps, we're dragons. We protect magical creatures." Bridge explained to her two friends.

"Ok, that's it, now I'm convinced that this is one of my parent's imaginary 'how do you deal with this situation?' scenario." Fitz said, grabbing his head.

"Dragon Up!" Bridge exclaimed.

"Damn girl! You are full of surprises you know that?" Art gaped, looking at the blue dragon that had just replaced her best friend.

"Don't worry kid, your parents know about this, so worry not, they've been there and done that." Fu replied.

"My parents? What are they, a mermaid and a wizard?" Art scoffed.

"No, Spudinski we never figured out but that's not the point. They just helped Jake with his dragon duties." Fu shook his head.

"Now that we're all on the same page, let us continue. Young Dragon, in order to do your duties, you are usually assigned a Guardian. Fu Dog has retired, but still helps your father. There isn't anyone that wishes to take the job to work with Jake when they find out about the Huntress. She has built quite the fearsome reputation."

"Question! Ok, who's the Huntress?" Fitz asked, raising his hand.

Bridge then replied, explaining that the woman wanted to kill them because they were dragons, and also wanted to kill other magical creatures, and was a weird whacko that had caused her nightmare all those years ago.

_If only you knew how wrong you are._ Were the thoughts of Fu, Lao Shi and Knight.

"Damn! One day and you already have an enemy!" Art scoffed. "Well, one that wants to kill you. Not that I don't think Morton doesn't have an itching to do that. I just don't think she's capable."

Bridgette laughed at this, breaking the tension a bit.

"Continuing. I managed to get a hold of an old friend who will help you. Her name is the Guardian Knight, whom you see behind me." Lao Shi said.

Knight stepped out of the shadows, and advanced to the girl. Bridge didn't know how to react. Bridgette held her hand out, but all the while not looking at the Protector. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Bridgette"

Knight scoffed. She grabbed the girl's hand and used that to tug the girl close to her and to hug her. "If we're going to do this, we're going to need a lot more trust with one another."

"Yo Fu, we got your call-"Jake, Spud and Trixie walked into the store and saw the bizarrest scene ever. Bridgette was being hugged by Knight, and Fu Dog was with Art and Fitz.

"Uh-"

"No need to look so surprised Dragon." Knight said, letting Bridge go. "I'm going to be her new guardian since you've got no one else vying for the position."

"No way Knight, I won't have it. Fu is perfectly capable of doing this. Plus, we haven't applied to the Dragon Council, I'm sure when we do it there will be many candidates to help her."

"Oh, my apologies Dragon, I can clearly see the masses lining up in anticipation. Plus, your own grandfather admitted as much to me. On top of that, the Dragon Council never does shit to make things better for Dragons. They always raise hell about something or other. You would be worse off with one of their choices. Plus, you can't do everything for her. What do you choose Bridgette?"

"Uhm, I don't know. Why do you hate her so much, dad?"

"Nothing. Just, nothing. Just memories. She's good, she'll protect you."

"Talk about a change in attitude." Fitz murmured to Art.

"Yeah." Art agreed.

"Look, can we just not do this today? I really had a rough day today, and don't want to have to deal with anymore Dragon Business today ok? But I think Knight will be ok, from what you guys I don't really see the Dragon Council getting me a great pet guardian."

"Sure Bridge no problem." Jake conceded.

"Thank you Bridgette." Knight said, now knowing her nephew's name.

* * *

**And now we have Knight as her Guardian! How will this work out? Only I know :)**

**And here's a snippet of tomorrow's chapter!**

_"It's a family heirloom, it's supposed to bring luck, and I hope it does to you."_

_"You and I need to talk Huntress."_

_"Thanks sis."_

_"Clark sir? Do you remember me?"_

**Who here remembers Clark? Those of you that do: oh yes, he's back! To those that don't: I would go back and brush up on the previous story :/**

**More twists coming up tomorrow!**

**Hezpeller**


	6. Gifts and Family Secrets

Well, this is today and tomorrow's chapter :)

**That's why I wanted to have one per day, to make it up for tomorrow's lack of chapter :)**

**Just a little note, I will be doing a little 'in between' story called "Hidden Lives: Spies." This will deal with Violet, and how she met her husband Henry. I would have made it into a chapter, but not only would it be confusing, it would be getting nowhere. As well as the fact that it would become a very LONG chapter, I decided that it would be better to make it into a mini-story. Those that are interested, you can look forward to it sometime tomorrow, those that aren't interested, fear not! It's not crucial, or important, to the story. It's just a little backstory that I want to write :)**

**Just a little background since it has come up: This is how the Huntsclan system works. First of all, Rose has banned and outlawed the kidnapping of babies that are born with the Huntsclan mark but to non-Huntsclan parents. **

**So, a kid is born in the Huntsclan [presumably with the mark], and when they are old enough, their parents send them to the Huntsclan Academy [I think that kids start going to school when the're 4].**

**Then, they learn all the 'facts' about magical creatures, and when they're 13, they do a test. [The test isn't just a written test! Just to clarify] If they pass the test, they graduate, if not, they have to keep redoing it every year until they do.**

**Once they graduate, they become apprentices. They go out into the real word and put their skills to the test.**

**Once they are 18 they become full fledged members of the Huntsclan. There they can decide to either do the initiation process [the one Haley refused to do] to become independent or they can just continue doing their sidekick thing. :P**

**That's the life in the Huntsclan.**

**Onej6: It's ok :) Don't worry, it might get confusing a bit. We actually haven't met Haley's kids yet, and most probably won't appear in this story, since they are young, they would actually still be in the Hunstclan Academy, just like James was. It would be strange wouldn't it :P Don't worry, you aren't required to review every day :) So no need to be sorry :)**

**Luiz4200: He would, and of course he wants her to live with him! She's the love of his life! And they're still married. I don't know, but I have an idea for the age ;) Nah, he always just said "she left, I don't want to talk about it" He often baby sat them, we'll learn about them in a future story.**

**Sedweel: She might, she might not ;) We'll find out :P I actually don't know, but I'm guessing it's hard? Thanks!**

* * *

==Chef Long's later on the Day

"Alright, open your gifts!" Fitz said. They had just finished dinner which was amazing, Jake had spared nothing for this celebration.

There were 10 of them. The birthday girl, Art, Fitz, Jake, Lao Shi, Fu, Trixie, Spud, and Jake's parents. Well, there were more people hiding in the shadows. Knight was hiding in the bathroom hall way, waiting for a certain someone to show up. Huntress knew that Knight was there, so she was hiding near a plant in the hallway. They were actually one above the other.

"Ok, so who's is this?" Bridge asked, holding out a wrapped box.

"That one is ours." Her grandmother replied. In it was a beautiful dragon penchant made of silver. "It's a family heirloom, it's supposed to bring luck, and I hope it does to you."

"Thanks grandma, thanks grandpa!" She hugged the two of them, and then put the penchant on.

She got the next gift out, it was Art's. "Hope you like it."

It was a handbag by the famous designer. "I couldn't get the dress, but I got a bag for you."

"Thanks Art, I love it!"

"I didn't know you liked these things Bridge?" Trixie asked.

"Well, I kind of do. I don't know, it just amazes me and it looks so interesting." Bridge replied, looking guilty.

"Nothing wrong with that Bridge, I'll show you some things tomorrow." Trixie said.

Next gift was Fitz's. "It's nothing fancy." He shrugged. It was a satchel, perfect for her who was beginning to get annoyed at backpacks. It was much more convenient too.

"Now this one is from a friend of mine, who wishes to stay anonymous, but says that you'll love it. I don't know what it is, so I hope it's nothing illegal." Jake said, handing her the gift bag he had been given yesterday.

Huntress was so entranced by what was going out there she didn't realize that Knight had seen where she was hidden.

"It's-it's, I, how did, who?" Inside the gift bag was the same dress that she had mentioned yesterday to her friends. She had looked at the price of the dress, and it was expensive! Then again, so was everything that was made by a designer, the best an average person could hope to own would be a handbag or so. _Whoever dad's friend is, they are very generous! I don't know them, but they got me this!_ Bridge was in shock to say the least.

Knight thought this would be the perfect time to attack. She jumped down from her perch and wrapped one arm around her sister's neck, covering her mouth and the other pinned her arms to her side. The Huntress tried to get out, but gave in when she realized her assailant wasn't giving in.

"You and I need to talk Huntress." Knight whispered in her ear. She grabbed Huntress's staff and used it to teleport out of there. They landed on the rooftop of some building. The electronics shop of Lao Shi to be exact.

Knight let her sister go a bit, and then scooped her up in a great big hug. "Don't run away like that ever again ok?"

"I, sure. I'm sorry, I just felt so selfish-" Rose spluttered.

"I don't want to hear your pity party. You came to me because you were distressed, and to impose my life on you, whether you asked or not would be rude of me." Violet scoffed.

"Thanks sis."

The two sisters continued their talk from yesterday, or rather, that morning, , filling each other in on what had happened, and what they were planning.

"Come on, I want you to meet my family. You left on a short notice and I promised I would explain everything to Henry. "

"You sure about this? Does your husband even know who I am?"

"Sure he knows about the Huntress, he's a Protector as well."

"I meant about me being your sister, your twin in fact, silly."

"Erm, we can, we can figure something out."

"Thanks sis, glad to know I'm not the only one that keeps her family in the dark."

== Hall Apartment

Henry Hall was happy with this apartment, and was liking New York already. Although the apartment was bare right now, with the stuff from their old home coming tomorrow, he liked it very much. He was an up and coming lawyer, who wanted to work for the big companies found in NYC. He finally got the opportunity when his boss gave him a promotion. When he had told his wife, Violet about it, she was ecstatic for him, but not so much on the fact that it would include moving to NYC. He was remembering yesterday how that mysterious woman in the shadows vanished, and it had changed Violet's opinion on moving to New York. It clearly must be that Violet was hiding something, and that something had to do with the woman that appeared yesterday. He realized then that he knew hardly anything about his wife's past. He remembered how he met her, and it always brought a smile to his face when he did.

He was brought out of his reverie when he felt a small breeze. He wasn't aware that he left any windows open, and he made the connection that maybe someone was trying to sneak in. He wondered if it was Violet coming back, but just in case, he grabbed his old staff, and turned it on. He went out to the living room, and he jumped out from where he was hiding and pointed his staff at the intruders.

"Freeze! I have a weapon and I know how to use it!"

"Is this how your husband always greets you?" A really familiar voice asked, with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Henry it's me. Will you put your staff down?" Violet sighed.

Henry did that and went to turn the lights on, which were right beside him. When he got a good look at whom Violet's guest was, he wished he hadn't put his staff down.

"Honey, you know I support the fact that you're still a Protector, but I don't think the Huntress would be a good person with whom to blossom a friendship!" Henry exclaimed, seeing his wife in her Knight persona beside the Huntress.

"I already feel the welcoming vibes here." The Huntress said, sarcasm dripping from her statement.

"Henry, I, haven't been openly honest with you."

"That's clearly noted if it includes a friendship with the Huntress! What could you be thinking? You know how dangerous and narrow minded the woman is!"

"First of all, _Henry_, if I was so dangerous and so narrow minded, don't you think I wouldn't be here in a friendly note, and can you also note the fact that I'm not fighting your wife, considering we're supposed to be enemies?"

"Well, I suppose that makes sense. My apologies." Henry said, looking a bit shameful at his outburst.

"It's ok honey, I guess I deserved it." Violet said, taking off her mask.

Henry went up to Violet and hugged her. "No, you don't it was just me being mistrustful. I know that if you can trust the Huntress, then I can as well. But I want to know, how? How did you guys you know, meet?"

Violet smirked as she looked to the Huntress, and even though Henry couldn't see the Huntress's face, he knew she was smirking as well.

"We actually met in an interesting way, to say the least. You could literally say we've know each other since we were born." Huntress said, lowering her hood.

"Oh? So you guys have been friends for all your lives?" Henry replied, not sensing what was the inside joke he was missing out on.

"Oh, we're more than just friends." Violet smirked. Just then, the Huntress removed her mask, and then Henry realized why the Huntress's voice was so familiar.

"You two are...sisters!"

"Twins to be in fact. In other words, I'm your sister in law, by the way, name's Rose."

"Pleased to meet you." Said the shocked man.

"We have some catching up and explaining to do." Violet said, leading the two by their arms to the kitchen.

==In the depths of the Huntsclan Dungeons

A figure was slumped against the walls of his confinement, trying to rest after his latest punishment. He had long learned that there would be no end for him with this, and that if he ever got his hands on Rose and Gwen, he would murder them both. He perked up when he heard the door open, and a figure step inside.

"Time for my next punishment?" Avezon spat, his voice raspy from lack of water.

"No, I'm here to help you sir. Huntress is a good leader, but you were better, she is far too secretive and doesn't want to bring the Huntsclan out to create a full-fledged assault on magical creatures."

"Who are you?"

"Clark sir? Do you remember me?"

"Ah yes, I remember. Why wait after all this time to help me?"

"My apologies sir. It's just that, she has recently punished me for not following her orders, since I hurt a leprechaun without her permission. It took me a while to find out where you were being held, so here I am."

"Very well, what is your plan?"

"This." With that, he took his staff out, and grabbing on to the injured man, he teleported them both out of the cell, to an apartment that Clark owned.

* * *

**Yes Avezon is very much alive! And pissed off! What will happen? Who knows? I do!**

**No snippet of next chapter, it might give too much away ;)**

**Please enjoy, and have a happy holidays :)**

**Till sunday!**

**Hezpeller**


	7. Let It All Out, Maybe Not So Much

**Yep, new chapter up! Woot! Sorry it took a while :P Real life caught up with me :P**

**For those of you that haven't seen it yet, I put up the backstory of Violet and Henry for people to read :) Anyway, this chapter was actually going to be longer, but I wanted to leave it on a cliffhanger :)**

**Wolvmbm: Yeah, I decided that Henry deserved as much, plus having someone else not knowing the family secrets was going to be too much bad luck :P Oh yeah, I had to put Peter Avezon in, I just couldn't leave him out. You think Violet as her Guardian was what messed up the family? Because a dragon 'marrying' a dragon slayer totally didn't spell messed up :P You're going to see a clear reference to the toll all of this takes on Bridgette here :) Thanks and enjoy the chapter!**

**Onej6: Thanks! Enjoy the chapter! :D**

**Luiz4200: Thanks! Henry left the Protectors, so he has no contact with them. Plus, he trusts his wife to know what she's doing...eventually. Jake decided that it would be better to not talk about it, rather than continue making up lies as to enforce the idea. You how people say that if you lie, you'll eventually need to continue lying to cover up for the discrepancies of the original, and that one day, you'll forget one part and the whole thing will come crashing down on you? That's pretty much it :P Enjoy the chapter!**

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==The next day

"Bridge! Are you going to wake up and go to Art's house or are you planning on sleeping for the whole day?" Jake yelled up the stairs to his daughter.

"Humph, I'm up!" Bridge yawned and got out of bed, and then went downstairs to go eat breakfast.

"Morning sleeping beauty. Had a nice rest?"

"Yeah dad. One question, when do I have to go for patrols?"

"I'm giving you the weekend off, when Monday comes, then shit will start going down."

"Fun, can't wait." Bridge groaned.

"You're not excited to become the American Dragon?"

"No, I am, I just wish that I didn't have to deal with those Huntsidiots."

"Like father, like daughter. Don't worry, you don't always have to deal with them, so it's a nice break compared to those freaks." Jake chuckled.

"Anyway, I should get going, so, I'll be back at around 5 ok?"

"Sounds good. Enjoy!"

Bridgette put her jacket on, got her skateboard and went out to Art's house, which wasn't that far from hers. She cut through Central Park, which cut half the time it would take if she had been going through the streets.

Meanwhile Jake made a phone call. "Hey, yeah, she's going to be coming back around 5, come sometime around that ok?"

"Yeah, ok, see you then."

==Spudinski House

"Hey girl! How're you?" Art said as she opened the door.

"I've been better. Dad says that when the week starts, I'm going to start with dragon stuff. So I'm just enjoying the weekend of freedom" Bridge replied, going inside and taking her jacket off.

"You're gonna have your plate full you know that?"

"Yeah, but I don't really mind that much. I think it'll end up being fun."

"Uh huh. And if anyone tries to fry your dragon ass, let me know and I'll give them something to fry. Their own asses." Art sassed.

"I'm sure the Huntsclan will go running for the hills."

"They better."

"Like mother like daughter." Trixie mused, coming from her office.

"Hey Mrs. Spudinski." Bridge waved.

"Bridge, I'll tell you one more time, or else I'm going to be handing you over to the Huntspunks. Call me Trixie. No Mrs. It makes me feel old." Trixie threatened playfully.

"Will do, Trixie." Bridge replied, smiling a toothy smile.

"Uh huh. Anyway, come here, I'm going to show the two of you my private collection of Jennifer Phillips clothes. Been waiting for the right moment to show this!" Trixie was giddy with excitement.

She led the two down to the basement, where they entered a storage room that they had never been allowed in before. Now the two teens were full of anticipation, wondering what they would find. They were not disappointed. It was like a walk in closet, filled with designer outfits.

"Wow!" Bridge exclaimed

"You said it!" Art agreed.

The three spent the next few hours discussing fashion, bringing Bridge up to speed with some things that she wasn't aware of due to her interest having been a closet one all this time. Literally.

"Why didn't you ever say anything? Not to Art even? We could have done this a long time ago." Trixie wondered.

"Well, I kind of felt embarrassed at first. It made me feel like I was trying to be like Amy Morton or something. Plus, I don't really know much on the subject, I just have this love for the clothes and the colours, not for the whole society that goes with it. It seems way too superficial. The designers always look fake."

"This coming from the girl who met Jen Phillips herself two days ago. I still can't believe Jake didn't tell me about this!" Trixie sighed.

"That's just the thing! She acts like she's your best friend in the whole world, but only because it's convenient for her, and because she wants to continue being loved by her fans. She probably doesn't actually give a damn. She almost certainly wouldn't even remember my name or who I was if she saw me today."

"Don't judge her all so soon. I met her many years ago, and she still knows who I am, she's the one that actually fuels this closet. I wouldn't be able to afford the fabric for half these dresses on my salary. I'm also one of the few people she allows to interview her." Trixie said smugly.

"Wasn't that back when she was with that other designer, Kate Lexis? What happened to her?" Art wondered.

"Kate went back to Washington, if I'm not mistaken. She wanted to be more keyed down and didn't want the spot light. She still does dresses, but on a smaller scale. Well, she's the most wanted wedding dress maker in all of Washington and surrounding states, but nonetheless, it's more small scale. Back to Phillips. She also spotted me with 3 tickets to the IFS, do you two want to come with me?" Trixie asked.

"I would love to!" Art exclaimed.

"Sure, but, weren't you taking Mr. Spudinski with you?" Bridge wondered.

"Dear, if you really want to go, Spud wouldn't mind. In fact, I think he would much prefer it that way. He doesn't like the show, and only goes in for appearance's sake."

"No! I won't take his ticket."

"I'm sure I could ask Jen if she has a spare ticket-"

"No, thank you, I don't want you to go through all that trouble for me."

"Hey, what are you guys doing in the basement?" Spud asked, coming downstairs.

"Hey dad."

"Hey honey."

"Hey Mr. Spudinski."

"Hey guys, what's this about tickets and trouble?"

"Nothing honey, I was just offering Bridge a ticket to the IFS-"

"Take mine, please, you'd be doing me a favour." Spud pleaded.

"No thank you, I couldn't."

Trixie was losing her patience with Bridge. She was as hard-headed as her father, and as proud as her mother. Not that Bridge would know about the latter. She took a deep breath. "Bridge, I know you think you're imposing, but you don't have to feel that way. We just want to give you a gift, and you don't have to feel guilty about taking it."

"I know, thanks, but I feel like I'm intruding on your family."

"Bridge, you're as good as family to us. We consider you to be like Art's sister-" Trixie knew then she had said the wrong thing, and Spud had also realized that, and Art as well.

The problem? Trixie had just implied that she was her mother. And Bridge got very touchy with that. Not that she would have minded that Trixie was her mother, it was just that she always associated a mother with something evil, and non-dependable. She also didn't want to be the intruding and unwanted daughter. She just wanted to be with her dad, and that was it.

"You know what? I want to stop being a charity case! I want people to stop feeling sorry for me because I don't have a second parent! I'm perfectly happy living like this and I don't need any of you to make me feel like I'm a charity case! So just leave me ALONE!" Bridge exploded, yelling quite loudly.

To say that the Spudinski family was staring shocked was an understatement. Bridge realized how she had lashed out, and put her hand over her mouth. Trixie attempted to approach her, but she just backed out. Bridge was wide-eyed and scared. She had never lashed out this way outwardly. It had always been something inside her mind. She shook her head and sobbed "I'm sorry."

"Bridge-" Trixie couldn't get the rest of her words out because Bridgette then bolted from the basement. "Bridgette! Come back here! Please!"

By the time the Spudinski family had reached the front door, Bridgette had already left, and was halfway down the block.

==Central Park

Bridge got off her skateboard and sat down under her favourite tree in the Park. She hugged her knees and silently started crying. _How could I be so heartless and rude! They were just trying to help, and I only made them feel like they were trying to do something sinister._

Not too far away, a woman was walking by. She had some time to kill, and she looked up at the sky, sensing the storm clouds coming in, wondering if for once, the weatherman would be right. He had predicted quite the thunderstorm for today, and it looked promising. She continued walking, and then came across a big tree. Below it was a figure with a mass of black hair and wearing blue and black clothes, and they seemed to be sobbing. She saw that the girl had a skateboard beside her, and then, her suspicions were confirmed. She recognized the girl at once and the skateboard confirmed it. Her heart wrenched at seeing Bridge in that state, and wanted nothing more than to hug the girl and calm her. But she had to play to appearances. She went up to Bridge and asked "can I sit down with you?"

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**Who is that woman? Who can guess? I'll be posting the next chapter later on tonight because I'm not going to be here on Wednesday, which would have been the next day I update :) yep, we're back to every other day of updates!**

**But! If someone correctly guesses who it is, I_ might _update earlier...who knows :P**

**So get guessing by clicking on the button below this that says 'Review this chapter' No account required! If not I'll be putting it up later on tonight!**

**Enjoy!**

**Hezpeller**


	8. Step Moms and Dragons Outside Fairytales

**Better late than never. Yes I said I would try to update earlier if people guessed correctly [which was the case], but I had to pack :P Everytime I tried to upload the chapter, I had to do something else :P**

**Anyway, this is one of those chapters in which I try to twist the whole story around...so hope everyone enjoys it! And there's lots of banter between Jake and Rose, for those fans!**

**Onej6: Yep, if there's one topic Bridge get's touchy with it's her mother _[Bridge: don't call her that!] _Anywho, yep, you're right :) Down, down ;) Don't get overly excited :) Thanks! Hopefully you like this chapter!**

**Wolvmbm: You're right :) It;s the former :P Yeah, well, hopefully this changes that around ;) Thanks! Hope you liek this chapter!**

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== Central Park

"Can I sit down with you?" Bridge heard the voice ask. She lifted her head and saw one of the most unlikely people in front of her.

"Sure, there's no sign saying you can't." Bridge shrugged.

"I know there isn't, but whether or not you want my company is another matter completely." Jen Phillips replied, sitting down beside her.

"Fine, I guess so. What do you want?"

"I want to find out why you're crying Bridgette."

Now Bridge was really astonished, the woman actually remembered who she was. "It's nothing."

"It can't be nothing if it upset you like that."

"Why do you care?"

"Am I not allowed to care?"

"You're going to tell me that you're seriously interested in my problems?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Just because. Now, come here." Jen extended her arms, gesturing for Bridge to get into a hug with her.

"No, it's ok, thanks-" Bridge was cut off by having the designer hugging her nonetheless. The sensation was so strange. She hardly knew the woman, yet she felt a sense of comfort in that hug, like she could just fall asleep or something.

"You're ok with being seen hugging a 13-year old girl?" Bridge wondered.

'What do you mean?"

"I mean, all those paparazzi and whatnot, what if they catch you hugging me?"

"Then they'll have a nice picture of you and me."

"Wouldn't you be embarrassed?"

"Sweetheart, the last thing I will be, is embarrassed at having people see me with you ok?"

"I guess."

"Now, what happened?" Jen soothed.

"I just lashed against my best friend's parents. They wanted me to go with them to the IFS, but that would have meant one of them wouldn't be able to go, and I felt bad about it, it made me feel like a charity case, and they said I was as good as family to them, but I just-" Bridge broke down again.

"Aww sweetheart, I'm sure they'll forgive you."

"Riight-" Just then, thunder started booming, and rain pouring.

"Come on, we need to get going. Central Park during a storm isn't the safest place to be." Jen stood up, and grabbing Bridge's hand, who grabbed her skateboard, and left the park at a run, in order to get indoors as fast as they could. Bridge ran a bit further ahead, but Jen caught, from the corner of her eye, a car zooming past, which looked like it wasn't going to slow down, and was enjoying splashing puddles at innocent pedestrians. Jen grabbed Bridge's arm right before she got too close to the puddle and got her back soaked protecting her.

Bridge was shocked to say the least. "Thanks."

"No problem, now let's get you home."

They continued to Bridge's house. Jen kept her right hand in her pocket, because the rain had smudged the makeup covering her birthmark. They finally got there, and went inside.

"Dad, I'm home!" Bridge called out.

"Bridge! You're here! When Trixie called me and then I saw that you were taking a while I got worried, but when the storm broke out I was getting ready to call you and if not, go out." Jake said, hugging his daughter. He then saw that they were not alone. Jen raised her shoulders as if to say 'I did what I could.' She then showed Jake her hand quickly to show that it had gotten smudged.

"Where are my manners. Bridge, go and get changed into something dry. Meanwhile, Jen, I should have something of mine for you to wear, that way you don't catch a cold or something in your soaked clothes. Then Bridge, you and I are going to have a talk about today."

"Sure dad." Bridge grimaced and she then ran up to her room to get changed.

Jen and Jake meanwhile went to Jake's room so that Jen could change into something more comfortable. Jen took out a compartment of makeup to cover her hand with.

"I hope you don't mind wearing guy's clothes." Jake smirked.

"I'm sure I'll survive." Jen replied, sticking her tongue out at him.

"What happened? Not that I mind you came early, that storm is terrible but, how did you two meet up?"

"She was sitting by the old tree and crying, so I comforted her. It seems that what happened with Trixie shook her up quite a bit. She has never lashed out like this."

"And that's why we're going to do this. Albeit this isn't what I had in mind, it would ease her into it. Here we go, fresh clothes for the designer."

"Thanks" She took the clothes and then Jake grabbed her and kissed her passionately. Jen broke away and smirked "Your conscience is out of town or something Dragon Boy? If your wife finds out you're kissing me, she's going to have a fit." She went inside the bathroom, closed the door and changed.

"Please, she's a dragon slayer, what's the worst she could do?" Jake scoffed through the door.

"Want to see Dragon Boy?" Jen threatened.

"Try me Huntress."

"I would, but right now, we've got our daughter to handle." Jen said, opening the door in Jake's clothes and leaving her damp clothes to dry.

"I think I'll take a serving of Huntsclan instead."

"Aren't you kind? Prefer Huntsclan over your own daughter?"

"No, I prefer fighting Huntsclan over lying to my own daughter."

"Because I'm having the time of my life not being able to comfort my daughter every day, and to actually call her my daughter and for her to call me mom. Speaking of which, if she ever calls me mom, I swear I'll cry in happiness."

"Gasp, the Huntress crying, call the press."

"Very funny, now let's get downstairs before Bridge finds we're taking too long and decides to investigate. Just don't start lecturing her, she doesn't need that now."

"Yes ma'am."

They went downstairs to the living room, where they saw Bridge seated on a sofa. "When they say women take more time to dress, I never thought it would be that much, and especially to change into guy clothes!"

"Very funny. Now, while we're on the topic of comedy, let's talk about your little conversation with Trixie." Jake said, sitting on the couch opposite her, and with Jen sitting beside him.

"Dad, I just lashed out. She was practically calling me her daughter, and the last thing I want is to associate Trixie with the woman who gave birth to me."

"Fine, I can understand your point, but there are ways and other ways of expressing that. Yelling at them, isn't."

"Dad, do we have to do this with her here?" Bridge said, gesturing to Jen.

"Yes we do. "

"Ugh, fine."

"Look, Bridge, Trixie called me after you left and assured me that there was no damage done, and that none of them are mad at you ok? Trixie also said that if you're still up for it, she can try getting you a ticket."

"Wait, if it's a ticket you need, I have a couple, actually the three of us can go, as a thank you for your hospitality from me." Jen offered.

"I'm game. How about you Bridge?"

"I, thanks."

Jen got up from her seat to go sit beside Bridge. She then hugged her. "No problem sweetheart." She looked at Jake, and he got her message.

He cleared his throat, and Bridge let go, but she was still in Jen's arms. "Bridge, I've been meaning to ask you something. I, erm, how do I phrase this? How do you feel about me um, going out with someone, romantically?"

"What? You're going out as in dating someone? Who, I-" It then dawned on her. She looked at the woman beside her, who nodded. "How long have you two-"

"Dating? A month today." Jen replied.

"Why didn't you-"

"Tell you this? Because I wanted to make sure Jen and I were serious and went out for a while before telling you, that way it wouldn't just be a week fling." Jake replied, avoiding her daughter's gaze, who was slightly freaked out at how the two adults finished her sentences.

"Now sweetheart, there is one thing I want you to understand. If at any point, even now, you think 'I don't want my dad to be dating her,' just let either of us know, and we'll break it off." Jen said, looking at the girl in her arms.

"You mean, you guys would break up if I want to?" Bridge sceptically asked.

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want you to be oppressed just because your father wants to date me. You know how you hear those stories of step-parents being evil and all that, well I don't want you to get that idea of me if this thing goes any further." Jen replied.

"Maybe there's a reason why all those stories say that. Because they may be true."

"Bridgette!" Jake exclaimed.

But Jen only smiled, as she cupped Bridge's chin to get the girl to look at her. "That may be true, but then again, in those types of stories, dragons are always the evil creatures. Does that seem like the truth to you?"

Bridge's eyes widened. "She-"

"Knows, yep, she does.' Jake said, grinning smugly at his wife's comeback.

"Wait, are you Knight?" Bridge asked.

"Knight's here as well?" Jen asked, looking at Jake, and winking at him discreetly.

"Yeah, Knight's here. No Bridge, she's not Knight."

"Now, Bridge, do you want your father and I to break up? We'll still take you to the IFS, and after that, I'll leave you and your father alone."

"No, I think I'll hold on for a while, see how things go."

"Thanks sweetheart." Jen said, hugging her.

"Well, I'm going to make dinner. Meanwhile, Bridge, you want to show Jen how the dress fits on you?" Jake said, leaving the two women to meet, or rather, catch up, in Jen's case.

"Dress? Wait that was you that gave me the dress?" Bridge asked.

"Yep, now come on, I want to see how it looks on you. If not, alterations can be made."

"Thanks, Ms. Phillips."

"Please, just call me Jen, no need to be formal. Now, go change and I'll be waiting outside your room. If you have problems putting the dress on, let me know and I'll help you."

"Sure, thanks." With that Bridge went up to her room. She had some trouble with the zipper on the back, and Jen helped her with it. Bridge looked wonderful in that dress.

"Dinner's ready!" Jake yelled up the stairs.

"Here, I'll undo the back, you get changed, and I'll help your father."

With that, Jen went downstairs and helped Jake to put the table. Then he kissed her again. "I'm glad Bridge's accepting us."

"I'm glad too. Now, let's get dinner served."

Dinner was joyful, with jokes and laughs going all around. After dinner, Bridge went up to her room to chat with Art. And to apologize to her profusely.

Jake and Jen drank coffee, and then Jake went on patrol. Jen went up to Bridge's room and helped the girl get to bed. "So, did she forgive you?"

"Yeah."

"Told you so" Jen winked at her. She tucked the girl in her bed. "Goodnight sweetheart, and thank you for giving your father and I a chance."

"No problem. Goodnight to you too."

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**Oh yeah! I'm having Jen date Jake, and Bridge will get a 'mother figure.' How will it work out? Only I know.**

**Next update will be on Thursday, since I'm going to be out for the next 2 days! So enjoy, and wonder what will happen next ;)**

**What are your predictions now that I've changed the story a bit with this?**

**Sound off where it says 'review this chapter' and let me know! **

**Hezpeller**


	9. The Will of An Idiot & The Consequences

**I'm baaack! Man, I'm now getting lots of reviews! I think that means people really like it :) Thank you to all of you that have reviewed, faved/ and or put me in your alerts :) I really do appreciate it! As a thanks, and a sorry for not updating earlier, here's a quite long chapter :P**

**Anywho, just a note, concerning Hidden Lives: Spies, even if you haven't read it, _please read this_! Ok, so originally it was just going to be about Violet and Henry meeting, but I've decided to change it up a bit. Now, it's going to be the 'in-between years' kind of thing. Still the same title, but going to be concerning everyone in the series, and some things that happened during those 13 years. So it's going to be taking a look at Rose and Jake, Haley and David, Gwen and Peter, Trixie and Spud [including their wedding] and the lives of Bridge, Art, James, Haley and David's kids [whom I haven't named yet], Kate, and maybe even Fitz, when they were younger. Hopefully people will want to read it! I'll be updating this soon on the other story as well, so please, give it a chance! It won't be directly related to this story, but some things might crop up, nothing crucial. If you're still not interested, fear not, you don't have to read it to understand it :D **

**Sedweel: She will be flabbergasted to say the least, if she found that out :P Enjoy the chapter!**

**Onej6: Thanks! Hmm, the only one I would see as messing up might be Fu...everyone else has been good as gold in keeping their stories intact. But we'll see what happens, won't we? It's kind of talked about in this chapter. Enjoy the chapter!**

**Wolvmbm: That might be pretty much a given, as it's touched upon in this chapter. It's not going to be pretty, totally agree with you on that...we'll see how it works out. Thanks! Enjoy the chapter!**

**Luiz4200: Yep, messed up indeed. Yeah, but in order to explain why she shouldn't blame her mother, he would have to come up with some lie to explain why she wasn't there and shouldn't be blamed, and there is only so many lies a person can take right? Ah well, no one is perfect. He missed the chance, and now has to deal with the consequences. He just told her the story as an ideal truth, what he had wanted to happen, the whole happily ever after has yet ot happen, if it ever does, it was more a tale someone would tell their kids, but it will be referred to later on in the story.**

**Once again, thank you to everyone that reviews! I try to answer your questions and comments as best as I can, but if you still have any questions, please ask! I'll be more than glad to reply :D Now for the tale!**

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==That Night

Jen went to Jake's room, only because he had told her not to leave, that he wanted to talk to her. Jen was doing this whole charade, but she wouldn't be able to live with Jake and Bridge yet. She was still the Huntress, but she wanted her daughter to at least have the experience of having a mother figure. Jen heard the door of the house open, and then, after a couple of minutes, Jake came into the room. He went up to where she was sitting on the bed and kissed her, long and hard, trying to convey how much he missed her and how much he loved her. While they were kissing, Jen took her bracelet off and once again became Rose.

Once they broke apart, Jake looked at his wife's now blue eyes and smiled "Is Bridge ok?"

"Yeah, Art forgave her, and I thanked her for giving us a chance. It seems like everything's working out."

"Ok, Master Planner, what now?" Jake smirked.

"Well, we do like every other couple does, we go on dates. Then, in a couple of months, you 'propose' to me, I say yes, we ask Bridge if it's ok, hope she says yes, and if she does, we wait for some time that we know she trusts me, and then we spring the truth on her. If she says no...then we try and spring the truth on her... I don't know, we'll cross that bridge when we get there, no pun intended." Rose shook her head, having run out of ideas.

"Alright, I'm good with that. If all of this works out, it'll be a miracle. Not that I don't think this plan will work out brilliantly, I just don't think that Bridge's reaction is something we can predict. All of this lying is going to be shattering everything she knows and trusts. Hopefully we can be tactful about this."

"No duh, we're not just going to say 'hey sweetheart, I'm your mother, your arch nemesis, your step-mom and your favourite designer!' We need to break it to her piece by piece."

"Ok, we'll see how it goes. Are you staying tonight?"

"I want to, but this idiot called me and told me there was an emergency. I only waited here because you made me promise to stay here. So if the Huntsclan HQ is burned down, it'll be on your head Dragon Boy." Rose chided him playfully.

"You can skin me and then serve it up in the celebration of your freedom." Jake smirked, closing the distance between them by putting his lips to hers.

"Believe me Dragon Boy, I will." Rose got up, but her bracelet back on. She took out a pen from her purse, and when she clicked it, it became her deadly Huntstaff.

"Careful with that, don't want to accidentally shish-kebab me." Jake said, putting his arms up in surrender.

"Don't worry Dragon Boy, if I shish-kebab you, ever, it'll be done totally on purpose." Rose smirked, and then she pressed the button that would transport her to her room at the complex.

==Sometime earlier, Huntswoman's office.

Gwen was sitting in her office, finishing some papers. She heard a knock on the door, and sighed. "Come in." She said, command in her voice, with a tint of iciness to let the person on the other side of the door know that she was in a bitchy mood and that she wouldn't take bullshit for an answer.

The door opened and a head poked in." Hey, can I talk with you?" James said, in his Hunter uniform. James had recently graduated from the Huntsclan Academy, top of his class, and had decided to be an apprentice for his mother.

"Of course you can! Why would you think otherwise?" Gwen said, beckoning him inside, taking her mask off. It was a sort of unspoken code, that if someone needed to talk to someone else privately, they took their masks off, as a sign of respect and confidentiality. The only one who didn't do that, unless it was with Gwen, or Haley and David, was Huntress.

"From your attitude when I knocked, I was expecting a conversation at gun-point." James replied, deadpan, going to sit in the chair in front of his mother's desk, taking his mask off as well.

"Fair enough. I'm just currently in charge, and it can sometimes be so stressing, I don't know how Huntress does it. Anyway, what's up?"

"Can I start my shifts on Monday? I'm going to be busy tomorrow." Here James was starting to get nervous.

"Oh? I'm sure I can pull it, but why? Want to finish your math homework?" She teased him.

"Ha-ha. No, it's just that, erm, I've got a date tomorrow."

"A date? Not even three days and already a girlfriend? How did you two meet?"

"We met in English class, for like two seconds before she ran off, but we kept on bumping into each other yesterday. So much we kind of..."

"Yes?" Gwen egged her son on.

"We kind of...kissed." He whispered the last part.

"James, if I wasn't a trained assassin who has excellent hearing skills that are necessary in our line of work, I would ask you 'what?' But since I heard your little secret, only one question is left: who is she?"

"She's a girl named Bridgette Long."

If it wasn't for the fact that Rose had already informed her of this, she would have fallen over in shock and be laughing her pants off. As it stood, she had done just that when she found out yesterday. What are the chances that they are the 3rd pair of Dragon & Slayer to fall in love? All in the same family? There is clearly something in the Long genes that make them charismatic and lovable to their arch-nemesis. What it was, was anyone's guess. She wondered how long it would take the two young lovers to find out about their alter-egos. Well, they didn't even know each other yet, so it might be a while for that. Nonetheless, this was going to be a comedy unto itself.

"Very well, I'll talk to Huntress, but I'm sure she'll say yes, so no worries."

"How can you be so sure? She's so evil and scary, and seems completely heartless. Just tell her I have to finish a project or something, she's probably not going to be moved that I'm dating. Especially not some random human."

Inwardly, Gwen snickered. The last thing that Bridgette was to Huntress was a random girl. Especially not a human one. "Will you relax? She's not going to bite your head off, she's perfectly kind and sociable. And completely not heartless. I have to tell her the truth though."

"Right, she's going to win the prize of socialite of the year. She wouldn't bite my head off, she's capable of blowing it off. Plus, she seems to be very unfeeling, how can you trust her to not attack you in the middle of the night or something, just because she mistrusts you or something? She's like someone people would have nightmares about! I'm surprised that those disgusting dragons are still alive! In fact I'm surprised that magical creatures still exist! You see all those creatures she killed, and, I don't know about you, but I'd fear the day she goes on a trigger-happy shooting spree."

Gwen was not looking at her son. She was looking at the figure leaning against the doorway of her office, whom her son had not heard enter a few seconds after he had. In fact, it would have been surprising if he had heard the Huntress come in. She was the best of the best, and if anyone could catch her coming in, they would have to be even better. She had slipped inside and had closed the door, all without a sound. Now she had an amused look in her eyes.

"You should see me when I'm really pissed, then you'll find out why people fear me." The Huntress said.

James paled at this. He had never directly talked with his superior before , and he wasn't starting off in a good foot. He got off his chair and was about to go kneel in front of her before he heard her say "Relax Hunter, I'm not here to reprimand you. "

'I'm truly sorry Huntress, I meant no disrespect or anything-" James was avoiding the gaze of the Huntress. Some guys had once said that if you looked directly into her eyes, you would see nothing but a shivering iciness and no heat, love or compassion.

"I know you didn't. Just as a warning though, be careful when you're talking, you never know when someone might be listening. That aside, Huntswoman, what's going on?"

"What do you mean? What's wrong?"

"I got a call when I was out that there had been an emergency. I told them to take it up with you. Clearly noted they didn't. I want you to come with me so that we can figure this out. You come too Hunter, that way you can get started on your apprenticeship."

Gwen nodded and put her mask on, and grabbed her staff and put it in the holster across her back. Huntress also had hers in the same position. James hadn't been issued one yet, but he followed his mother and the Huntress, donning his mask on as well.

They went to the surveillance chambers. Where all aspects of the Huntsclan were controlled. Huntress went inside, slamming the door open, and James could tell the woman was pissed.

"Who's the asshole that called me?" She spat.

A timid hand went up. "I-I did, Huntress."

Huntress went up to the man holding his hand up. That meant that everyone else was to continue working, but you could still hear a pin drop. "What's your name? And what did I tell you to do with your call?" Huntress sneered, her tone scaring the pants off James.

"I'm Will, Huntress. You told me to take it up with the Huntswoman, who was in charge." The man was trying to be braver than he actually felt, and was glad that she hadn't done this with the whole room watching.

"And why didn't you fucking do that?" She spat.

The man shook his head profusely. " I did!"

"Bullshit."

"I sent a messenger, he's the one that informed me of the escape, and I sent the message with him! I have a messed up knee, and I thought he would be quicker! Please, I'm telling you the truth!"

"Who's the messenger? And more importantly, what was the fucking message!"

"Clark. We have recently found out that one of our prisoners escaped, that's why I wanted to talk with you first."

"Why would I want to know about an escaped convict before she did, considering I wasn't even in the premises?"

"Because...because the escaped man.." Here he looked at Huntswoman, whose gaze wasn't much friendlier. "The man was Peter Avezon. I didn't know how she would react to this."

Now James was shocked. But nothing could prepare him for what he witnessed next. Huntswoman went up to Will and grabbed him by his shirt. "What, did, you, say?" She emphasized each word, making the man paler at every word she uttered.

"Peter Avezon got free, no one knows how he did, but he did. Everyone took him for dead, but this morning, his cell was empty."

"You are a fucking idiot, you know that? Why would you at least not check to see whether I got the message, or, since it seems you know how to use a phone, have called me to let me know!"

Will was shivering and trembling, having just realized his stupidity. He actually thought Huntswoman would murder him then and there, even with her son watching, but breathed a sigh of relief, even though the intrusion was anything but comforting, as he would soon find out. Huntress placed a hand on Huntswoman's shoulder. "We'll leave the other officials to handle his punishment. Now genius, tell us what you know."

"Clark came up here to let us know that Avezon had just escaped. He had gone down to take him his weekly meal at lunchtime, and he found the cell empty, but still locked. He had been on duty since last night, and he swore that no one else came in or out of the cells. Avezon was weak, so there was no way that he did this alone. But records show that no one has visited him in years. The only other person who has contact with him is the Enforcer, who hasn't seen him since last Monday, and the last guard on duty."

"Where is Clark?" Huntress spat.

"He was taking a holiday or something. He was going to deliver the message and bolt."

"You there." Huntress said, grabbing the nearest person. "Take this man down to the Enforcer, tell him to do a once over, and to leave him in a cell until I give him further orders. If you don't do as I say, you're going to join him, understood?"

"Yes Huntress." The random woman grabbed Will's arm, and twisting it behind his back, took him down to the dungeons.

Huntress looked at both Huntswoman and Hunter and said, "Contact Huntsboy and Huntsgirl, tell them to meet me in my office, let them know what happened, then, go and meet me there, I have some business to take care of."

"Yes Huntress." James said, seeing that his mom was quite shocked. They left the chambers, and James contacted the two adults, relying the information they had just found out. As he hung up, he looked at his mother, who still hadn't said a word since she let Will go.

"Mom? You ok?"

"Yes, I'm-" With that, his mom fainted.

"Mom!" James kneeled down to take a look at his mom, not knowing what to do. He was in shock, and he felt a presence come up and having taken a look at the situation, was now contacting someone. James saw that it was the Huntress, and saw the two people he had contacted some minutes ago, come.

"Change of plans. Huntsboy, can you carry her?"

"Yes." Huntsboy replied, picking Huntswoman up.

"We're going to my complex." With that, Huntress took her staff out, and placing a hand on James's shoulder, she transported him. Huntsgirl did the same with her husband, taking Huntswoman with them.

==Huntress's complex.

It actually wasn't her complex anymore. Haley and David, as well as Gwen, lived here as well. Huntress saw that James was in shock that not only his father had just escaped, but that his mother had taken the news so badly. Huntsgirl had appeared beside them some seconds later, and they deposited Huntswoman on the couch, going to the kitchen to bake some concoction involving smelling salts or something along those lines. It was Haley's speciality. Meanwhile, she felt that the boy beside her needed some privacy, or someone to talk to. She decided to first try out the latter.

"James, are you alright?" She had dropped her Huntress voice, hoping to get through the teen.

"I'm fine, I know I should be feeling scared, or something along those lines, that my father is out, but the only thing I'm wondering is how I'm going to kill him. As for my mom, I know she's tough and will be fine, it must have been that she relaxed for a moment and everything came flooding in and overwhelmed her."

"Very well. Please return to your room, you're exempted from your duties tomorrow, as you requested, in order to date your 'random human.' You should know that a group of trained assassins are much more capable of caring and protecting each other. We're a tight knit group, and if you ever need to put real life in front of this life, just let us know, we'll figure something out."

"Thank you Huntress. Sorry I bashed you."

"No worries, just go, and enjoy tomorrow. Monday will be when the real fun starts."

* * *

**Pissed off Huntress anyone? Poor Will, who in their right mind would just send a messenger instead of calling? Ah well, and Clark seems to be cropping up everywhere!**

**Anyway, next update will be on Saturday, or as I like to say: Next update will be next year!**

**Hidden Lives: Spies will be updated sometime later today however. It's just going to be a reworking of the first chapter, with new things added**

**I have kind of stopped with the little snippets of what's to come mainly beecause right now, I don't have the next chapter written out. Also, I don't know if it gives too much away...would you guys prefer with or without previews?**

**Sound off below and let me know!**

**Till next year! :P**

**Hezpeller**


	10. A date, and feelings let out

**Yes, I'm still alive :P I know I promised that I would update the story sooner, but the internet has been acting whack at our house, so the phone company decided to start doing some whack test. Long story short: I'm back after a day and a half of no internet :P**

**Anyway, I wanted to upload something and this is pretty long, so hopefully everyone enjoys this. It gets more into Bridge's feelings, and James's background, of a kind :P**

**Wolvmbm: Thanks! I think twists keep the story more and more interesting right? It means that no one can really know for sure how the story will end...Heck, even I don't know how the story will end :P Yep, Gwen knows all abotu Rose. She found out in the previous story, they used to be best friends before Rose left, and are now once again bfs :) Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy the chapter :D**

**Luiz4200: Thanks! I just meant that eventually he would, but the case is that Bridge is a very curious girl, and sometimes, some things are better left the way they are. If you tempt a curious person too much, they won't rest until they find the whole truth. I don't know, I guess he could have...but I thought the story would be better if he didn't tell the truth. Rose is a very dangerous person, hard to convince someone that your mother is the prime killer of magical creatures...albeit evil magical creatures :P Enjoy the chapter!**

**Onej6: Thanks! I just want more input on whether some things annoy the readers, or not :) I'll try not to :D Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

==The Next Day, 6am

Jake was sleeping peacefully. It was Sunday, no having to wake up early. He suddenly felt a presence in the room with him. Whoever it was, they were approaching him. He felt someone else on the bed with him. He then felt arms rope around his neck. His eyes shot open as he saw Rose looking at him.

"You gave a scare!" Jake yelped.

"I'll give you a warning next time Dragon Boy." Rose smirked.

"Very funny. So, what's up?" Jake shook his head

"Some idiot at the Huntsclan wasn't doing his job. And on top of that, Avezon escaped, and guess what else? Avezon's kid? James? He's going out on a date with Bridge today. Seems like she's been keeping a secret from you." Rose said with a knowing smile

" WHAT? Damn, anyway, that's nothing compared to my secrets. She probably thinks I'm going to interrogate him like I did with Fitz." Jake muttered.

"What? I never heard of this one!" Rose said, feeling left out.

'It was last month, I kept getting the feeling that Fitz was eyeing her, so I started to get tough on him, and question him."

"Note to self: never be in the same room as Jake while talking to another guy." Rose joked.

"Ha ha. Anyway, I think I scared the poor kid off. Now it's time to scare Avezon off. No way is he going to date my daughter."

"May I remind you that he's a slayer, just like David and I are?"

"May I remind you that his father and mother are fanatics in the area of killing magical creatures?"

"Right... especially considering the fact that Gwen has done nothing but help Haley and I battle _for _magical creatures, not to mention the fact that James has had no instruction from his father."

"But he is a recent graduate from the Huntsclan Academy."

"Let me try another tactic. You try and meddle with the two of them and then you'll get to have a real battle with me, and not a staged one. And I will guarantee you it'll hurt."

"Yes Huntress, anything you say."

"That's my Dragon Boy." Rose smirked, kissing Jake on the lips. They stayed that way for a while, and they broke apart and eventually fell asleep. Well, Rose fell asleep after she put her bracelet on, just in case.

==Later on the day...around 11am

Bridge was sleeping like a log, but Jen and Jake thought that she had to get up sometime. But instead of Jake's usual hollering, Jen was going to wake her up, properly. She entered her daughter's room and sat down on the edge of the bed. Jen gently shook Bridge's shoulder. "Hey, wake up Bridge."

"Huh?" Bridge's eyes gently fluttered open, before opening fully and looking at the designer. 'That wasn't a dream was it?"

"Nope, I am dating your father." Jen giggled.

"Speaking of dating, I erm, have a date today as well."

"Oh really? Your father isn't aware of this I presume?"

"Not really. Dad would blow a gasket if he found out."

"Now why would I blow a gasket?" Jake asked, leaning on the doorframe.

"Because your daughter is under the impression that if she tells you, you'll lose it." Jen smirked.

"And what would this so called event be?" Jake asked, going over to sit on the chair.

"I'm going out, on a date, with a guy." Bridge said, little bits at a time.

"With whom?" Jake questioned, even though he already knew the answer.

"His name is James Avezon. He's really nice, and he seems really caring." Bridge said, blabbing.

"I'll be the judge of that! Just one thing, and you have to promise this to me ok? Or else you're not going out. You have to promise me that you aren't going to reveal that you're a dragon to him ok? Trust me, sometimes it's best that some people don't know ok?"

"Fine... I wasn't going to tell him anyway! The only reason Art and Fitz know is because Fu Dog blabbed on them!"

"I just want to make sure." Jake said.

"Sure dad, just like you wanted to make sure that Fitz didn't want to date me? He thinks you're worse than the government!"

"The guy would not stop looking at you!" Jake countered.

"So? Are guys not allowed to look at me now?" Bridge asked, exasperated.

"No! It's just that, I don't know, I just want to make sure he's not some freak weirdo!"

"Do you see me questioning your dates, dad?"

"She's got you there Jake!" Jen said, bursting out laughing. "Just let her go Jake, let her have some fun! Be trusting for once!"

"Fine, but please, don't tell him about the magical side of the family ok?" Jake pleaded.

"I agree with Jake there, Bridge. Sometimes, keeping a secret for just the right moment is a better idea." Jen conceded.

"Don't worry! I won't tell him! Jeez, you make it sound like the guy is going to go running for the hills when he finds out I'm a dragon!"

"He could." Jake shrugged.

"Right...of course. Is that what happened with the woman that gave birth to me? She found out you were a dragon and split?" Bridge asked with disgust.

"No! No, trust me, when she found out I was a dragon, she said that she loved me. Bridge, can we not talk about this? It's not something I want to talk about. Come on, let's go eat breakfast."

The family went down and ate their breakfast, with a certain cloud of silence over them. Jake's words were ringing through Bridge's head. Every time her dad told her something about the hated woman, she got more and more confused, and the woman became more of a mystery. Jen was giving Jake a glare. Why would he keep torturing her like this? He could at least give more information away, but it seems he always did that. He always shrugged it off, tried to make it a non-committal answer.

Jake broke the silence. "So, when is James going to come and pick you up?"

"He's going to come at noon. We're going to hang with Art and Fitz for a while, and then just go on our date."

"Then you should probably go change, it's already 30 past. Do you need any help or anything?" Jen asked.

"Nah, I'm good." Bridge answered, putting her stuff in the sink and going upstairs to change.

"You're an asshole, you know that?" Jen asked when they heard Bridge close the door to her room.

"What! What did I do wrong?"

"You could tell her more! Not just, 'she said she loved me' then go into some sob story that you don't want to talk about it! You're only going to make it worse when the truth comes out!"

"Please! If I tell her more, she's going to want to hear more and then she's going to be closer to the truth, and if she finds out before we tell her, she's going to go berserk!"

"Am I interrupting something?" a voice asked by the doorway.

Jake and Jen both whipped their heads around, only to sigh in relief when they saw who it was.

"Hey. No, Jake and I were just settling a matter out." Jen said, rolling her eyes as she went to go put her stuff in the sink.

"Isn't it great to have an argument with your beloved?" Violet smirked, taking off her mask.

"If you want to live another day, you would do better to keep that on, yourself hidden, and your mouth shut." Jen cautioned.

"Alright, fine. But afterwards, I want to know what's got the Huntsclan all in titters. Heard some poor soul got sent to the dungeon because the Huntress got pissed off." Violet jabbed.

The doorbell rung. "Hide, or else you're going to regret coming here." Jen cautioned, going over to open the door.

"Hi Mr. Lo-" James had his whole speech ready, backed up by Art and Fitz but was unfortunately derived from it when he saw the famous designer. "Sorry, wrong house."

"James! Hey, no, I explain everything later. Hey Art, hey Fitz." Bridge panted, having run down the stairs and bolted to the door. She saw that her friends and boyfriend were dumbfounded that a designer was at Bridge's house.

"So this is the famous James huh?" asked Jen, making the boy in question blush a deep red.

"Now James, I want Bridge back in one piece, and if you do anything to her, you'll sorely regret it, understood?" Jake cautioned.

"Yes sir! Don't have to worry about a thing." James said, grimacing at the threat. He had heard that some human parents could be worse than magical creature parents when it came to protecting their young.

"I better not." Jake growled.

"Bye dad, bye Jen." Bridge said, closing the door.

==Central Park.

Bridge had said she would explain everything as soon as they got to Central Park. They got there, and sat down. James sat down leaning against a tree, hugging Bridge, who was leaning back on his chest, while Art and Fitz sat across from them.

"Ok girl, spill. What the hell was Jen Phillips doing at your house?" Art asked, not being able to hold off any longer.

"Well, apparently, my dad has been dating Jen for the past month. Now that they decided that they were quite steady, they decided to let me know. So, she's going to be around the house for a while, fuun." Bridge explained, rolling her eyes to the last part.

"Are you telling me that you don't want Jen Phillips as a potential mo- parent?" Fitz asked.

What none of the kids knew was that a couple of figures crouched on the tree were listening in on their conversation.

"I don't know Fitz! I guess it would be nice, but the thing is that she seems so fake!" Bridge answered, sighing and leaning backwards into her boyfriend. The woman in question seemed taken aback by the answer her daughter gave. Both she and her sister continued to listen.

"Fake as in?" James asked.

"Fake as in the fact that the woman acts like she cares about me! I mean, wouldn't you think it's suspicious that my dad and Jen are ready to break up if I say so?"

"Say what?" Art exclaimed.

"That's right. If I decide that I don't want them to date, I just have to say it and they'll break up. Plus, she acts like she cares about my feelings, she actually wanted to not only comfort me, but also hug me? I mean, what sort of person cares that much about someone else's kid?" Bridge explained.

"That is a bit suspicious. Hmm, so what do you think she's doing?" Fitz asked, trying to do this from a rational point of view.

"I think she's trying to keep me as a fan, because, I might add, it turns out that she's the one that gave me that dress for my birthday. And on top of that, I think she's just going to marry my dad and then take her kindness and shove it up my ass." Bridge replied, a bit savagely. So savagely, that Rose actually flinched a bit at hearing the response.

"Come on Bridge, I'm sure that's not the case." James soothed.

"Not the case? No one can be that kind...ever! She has no reason to be kind to me, except for one, which would be to gain something from this. What can she gain by being kind to me? She gets to keep dating my dad, and me happy. If anyone else has any other theories, I'm happy to hear them."

"She could just really care for you?" Art attempted.

"Right, or maybe, she's new to parenting or she's one of those parents that spoil their kids." James theorized.

"Or, she could be hiding a dark secret that she plans on telling you later on, and therefore is making you trust her so that you won't go berserk when she does tell you." Fitz concluded.

Everyone, the two sisters on the tree included, were shocked. For different reasons, but shocked nonetheless.

"Too far-fetched?" Fitz asked, apologetically.

"Definitely." They all agreed.

"Too many far-flung scenarios from my parents." Fitz said, shaking his head.

"Anyway, I still don't think she's as kind as she seem." Bridge said.

"I got it! She moonlights as a killer, kind during the day, a homicidal maniac at night!" Fitz exclaimed.

_If only Fitz knew how right he was_ Rose mused from her perch.

"Fitz, you really need to spend some time away from all those cop shows, and your parents' consultations!" Art said.

"Sorry-y! I just never really had friends before, well, friends that didn't just want free consultations." Fitz said, abashed.

"Aww, Fitz, don't worry, we think you're a great guy!" Bridge said, getting up from where she was sitting and hugging her friend.

"Same here Fitz, you're a bit whack, but a good whack." Art said joining in the hug. They broke apart, and realized that James was very busy studying the grass by his feet.

"Don't worry Mr. Shy, you're a good friend too." Bridge joked, grinning.

"Ha-ha, real funny. Sorry, I just never grew up in an environment where people hugged, or showed affections for one another, at all." James said, still not making eye contact with anyone.

Bridge then went and kissed him, full on the mouth. James had noticed that Bridge's mouth was always warm, it felt like he was putting his hands by the fire or something.

"Thanks," he grinned, more like blushed, when they broke apart.

"Yo, lovebirds, can you leave that for when you go on your date!" Art exclaimed.

"So, where did you grow up James?" Fitz asked.

"You could say it was the military. This top secret location, where the walls were a dull grey, and windows were non-existent. It felt more like prison than anything. Emotion was like this unwanted and considered to be like showing weakness. Like showing you were human." Fitz explained.

"Soo, did you run away or what?" Art asked.

"Nah, you graduate the program when you're , I graduated, and now I can live in the real world." James shrugged.

"So, what does that make you? I mean, what did you learn there? Did you quit after you graduated?" Fitz asked.

"It just makes me a damn good fighter. I just learned basic surviving in the wilderness skills, how to kill animals, wild animals I mean, and weapon handling. Nah, I can't quit, it's one of those, you're in it for life kind of things, and I don't see my mom quitting any time soon, she has too much fun working there."

"Wow, and I thought the school system here sucked, this must be like a picnic for you then." Bridge said.

"Yeah, it is. But enough about me, how about, holy cow is that the time! We need to get going if we're going to catch that movie!" James exclaimed. The young couple jumped up and then ran for their lives.

"Enjoy you lovebirds!" Art hollered after them. The only response they got was a wave from Bridge.

"Come on Fitz, let's go see if the skatepark is busy or not." Art said, getting up from their own sitting places and leaving.

The two sisters that had been listening, grabbed their staffs and teleported back into the Long Household, where they both took off their masks.

"It seems like acting kind is no longer common." Rose mused shaking her head.

"To say the least. She really is quite something sis, you have raised quite the child."

"Shut up Vi. You come here just to tease me? I'm flattered."

"Live life a little. Relax Rose. You're trying too hard to get Bridge to like you! That's clearly noted by the comments your daughter is making."

"How can I relax? I'm trying to get Bridge to trust me so when I do tell her the truth, she doesn't get even madder at me!"

"Relax sis! She'll accept you, I'm sure. You're her mother!"

"Vi, let me get this through your head. She resents me! She doesn't think that she doesn't have a mother, she thinks that I gave birth to her, gave her to Jake and said 'fuck you, you and your daughter can go to hell.' Or something along those lines. And since my glorious husband is always veering off the topic, Bridge doesn't know much about me, which makes it easier for her to hate me."

"Alright Huntress! Don't kill me! I'm just trying to be encouraging to you!" Vi mocked, appearing to be afraid.

"In all honesty, I don't think Bridge will ever forgive me. But I'm going to do the best I can. I owe her that much."

* * *

**Tadaa! That was the young lover's first date! How will things work out when their alter-egos meet for the first time? And are things heating up, or is that just me? Anyway, since I have a lot written out, here comes a snippet!**

_"I want you to understand something. I care about you as much as I care for your father."_

_"Therefore, Fu Dog will be keeping you company tonight."_

_"Speaking of which, how was your date?"_

_"How surprising, as always, people go for looks."_

_"Enjoy your date!"_

_"Fu! What do you know about her!"_

_"Middle school? Are you kidding me? What were they, highschool sweethearts or something?"_

_"I intend to find out Fu, and if you utter a word about this to anyone, you're dead."_

_Like mother like daughther. Fu thought_

_"I will find the truth, then, I'll make her pay for ditching us, the coward."_

_"Relax sweetheart, I'm right here, no one's going to hurt you."_

**Soo, I think that Wednesday sounds about good. As for Spies, I think I'll leave it for the weekend. Sunday. **

**Enjoy!**


	11. Some Bonding Time, and Questioning Time!

**Ok, so my timings are terrible... I'm so sorry guys, but don't worry, I'm not thinking of giving up anytime soon. As proof, I already have plans for the rest of the story, and the titles for my next stories in the series. It's Hidden Lives: Humans, followed by Hidden Lives: Huntsclan. Yep, soo, start wondering about what I'm planning!**

**Anyway, since my schedule is so messed up, I'll no longer say: expect the next chapter on such and such date, from now on, I'll be posting at least two chapters for this story and for Spies. Hopefully no one will be super pissed off at that :P**

**Wolvmbm: Yep, it's going to be one akward moment for the Longs if, or when, the truth comes out...might be soon, might be in a while from now...who knows ;) As I said to you in the last chapter, Gwen knows evrything about Huntress, taht she 'married' Jake, who Haley really is, and everything. She now just does the whole thing as theatrics, but she's very aware of Rose being the Huntress :D Thanks! Hope you like this chapter!**

**Onej6: Glad you liked that part, I wanted to make it sound like Fitz was just being whack, but in reality, he hit everything spot on :P If the snippet sounds intense, then maybe so will this chapter? Hopefully it's not such a turn-off, I think the snippet was more intense than it's supposed to be :P Next chapter will be better. Enjoy the chapter!**

**Luiz4200: Yeah, all your questions got me thinking, who would be most likely to also take that stance, and Rose was the winning candidate...it was either her or Haley, but I think Rose suits it more, so thanks for the idea! Bridge will be very close to the truth, not this chapter, but the next, so hold on for that one. Well, no one really assumes that her mom might just come back and try to become her mother, pretending to be just a step-mom to be. Just wait and see for what happens to Fu. Oh yes, she's very tempted. She gets plunged into the magical world, and all of a sudden, she is now curious as ever. Enjoy the chapter!**

**So, this chapter might not be as intense as people would think it is from the snippet, but I promise you, next chapter will be. Enjoy!**

* * *

==Several Hours later

The door opened and Bridge entered her house. "I'm home!"

"Hey sweetheart! Your dad had to go out with Fu, some dragon business. Can I talk to you for a bit?" Jen asked.

"Sure" Bridge shrugged, wondering if now that her dad was out, she would see the real side of Jen Phillips.

They went to the living room, and Jen sat down on one of the couches. Bridge was about to sit on the one opposite it, when Bridge heard her say "Bridge, come sit down here." The designer was patting the spot on the sofa right next to her.

Bridge shrugged and went to sit there. Once she sat there, she was once again engulfed in a hug. For some strange reason, those hugs were different than others she's had. She felt a sense of comfort in them, although how she couldn't understand.

"Now Bridge, I want you to be completely honest with me ok? Do you hate me?" Jen asked, still holding her daughter to her chest.

"No!" Bridge answered, appalled.

"Ok, so do you feel I'm doing anything wrong, or does anything feel uncomfortable about how we're doing things?" Jen couldn't very well just ask 'do you think I'm fake?' So she had to settle for a more indirect way of approaching this.

"No, I don't know, it's just that sometimes, you seem a bit, sorry, but you sometimes seem that in reality, you wouldn't give a damn about me-"

"Sweetheart! I want you to understand something. I care about you as much as I care for your father."

"How! You hardly know me, how can you care about someone who you hardly know?" Bridge replied angrily, breaking away from the hug.

"Bridge, I understand that it may be hard for you to believe, but it doesn't take that much to get to know someone, and I'm trying to do the best I can. If you prefer that I keep my distance, I will. Just let me know and I will."

"I don't know what to do! On one hand, I think that you keeping your distance would be better, but I just feel like it would be the wrong thing to do!" Bridge responded, getting exasperated.

"Sweetheart, look, I think you're just getting used to having another person in the house, but I'll make you a deal. For the next day or so, I'll try to keep my distance, if tomorrow night you decide you're more comfortable like that, we'll keep it like that. If you want it back to the hugs galore festival, just let me know, and I will be most happy to oblige. I'll even call you Bridgette instead of sweetheart. Sounds good?"

"Alright."

"Ok, so, your father and I are going out on a date, and unfortunately, Fu Dog volunteered to babysit. Therefore, Fu Dog will be keeping you company tonight."

"Argh, as if today was too good to be true." Bridge complained, letting herself recline onto the pillow propped on the sofa, so that she was in a reclining position.

"Speaking of which, how was your date?" Jen smirked.

"It was great! James was amazing, he's the perfect gentleman, and always knows the right thing to say. Not to mention he's cute and hot."

"How surprising, as always, people go for looks." Jen shook her head, smirking more widely.

"Ha ha." Bridge replied, sticking her tongue out.

"Oh, how mature. I would rebut your 'attack' but I have to go change to get ready for my date." Jen replied, rolling her eyes.

As Jen left, Jake and Fu came in.

"Hey Bridge, how was your date?" Jake asked, getting right down to business.

"Hey dad, it was great! James is a complete gentleman, so you don't have to worry about a thing." Bridge smirked, knowing this would piss Jake off.

"Lucky me." Jake muttered.

"What do you prefer? A rude idiot?' Bridge asked.

"Nah, I'll take my chances with the gentleman. Where's Jen?"

"Changing. Also known as, take a seat, because it's going to be a long while before she comes out." Bridge said, rolling her eyes.

"O ye of little faith." A voice spoke out with amusement.

Everyone turned to look around. Jen was standing in a stunning dress. It was a strapless midnight blue gown which made her look dazzling. Jake wondered how many other men had looked at his wife that way, and he then got pissed off at the idea that other men might be flirting with her.

"I'm going to quickly change, and then I'll be back down." Jake said, rushing up the stairs.

"Better be quick, or else Bridgette will start thinking that guys take longer than girls to change." Jen smirked.

"Very funny! I have seen guys who take longer to change than girls...it's so weird! I mean, it's just putting on clothes, it's not like you're deciding where you're going to live or something, what's so important about it anyway?" Bridge seethed.

"Well, some people want their clothes to match, and to maybe, just maybe, look nice, so they wear makeup and that kind of thing." Jen beamed.

"Ugh, I swear, I'll never understand it."

"Oh, you may find yourself to want to do just that in a couple of years."

"Riight, of course, I think there's a greater chance of me having a friendly talk with the Huntress." Bridge replied, sarcasm clear in the statement.

Jen had to hold her laughter in. Bridge should pick a better analogy to use. Just then, Jake came downstairs so she was saved from having to reply to that.

"Ready to go?" Jake asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Jen answered. They grabbed their coats, and Jen her handbag, and they walked towards the door.

They then did the whole parent schpiel about emergency phone numbers, not to open the door to strangers, the whole nine yards.

"Enjoy your date!" Bridge said closing the door.

"So it's just you and me kid." Fu smiled, getting comfy on the couch.

"Yeah it is. How long did you know they were dating?" Bridge asked, sitting down on another couch.

"Um, maybe a couple of weeks or so. I think he mentioned in passing some time ago, but it wasn't until recently that things started to heat up and he told me." Fu was in a talkative mood, perfect for what Bridge was planning.

"So Fu, I'm wondering, did you ever get to know the woman that gave birth to me?" Bridge asked.

"Sure! She and Jake were inseparable, and they looked to be the couple most in love with one another. Yep they were the lovebird if I ever saw them-"Fu then realized what she was trying to do. "Oh boy, no way kid, I'm going to be in enough trouble as is by telling you this much."

Bridge growled ferociously and turned into a dragon and threatened. "Fu! What do you know about her!"

"Oh boy, Uh let's see, they met in middle school-"

"Middle school? Are you kidding me? What were they, high school sweethearts or something?"

"No, actually, she left for nine years. Please, look kid, you're not going to gain anything by questioning me! Just leave it be...plus, why are you so interested, I thought you hated her?"

"I _do_ hate her. I just want to give her a bit of a 'what's going on with us, where have you been' talk and then kick her sorry ass to Greenland."

"How are you going to do that? You're probably not going to get Jake to spill the beans, and I'm on the guard, so no more tricks from you, kid!"

"I intend to find out Fu, and if you utter a word about this to anyone, you're dead." Bridge said, her blue eyes getting that determined glint.

_Like mother like daughter. If only she knew how much she's like Rose. _Fu thought. Outwardly he said "good luck with that kid, and what do you plan on doing with that info? Just barge in and give her hell? You don't even know where she lives!"

"I will find the truth, then, I'll make her pay for ditching us, the coward. No matter how long it takes me, and how far I have to go."

==Jake and Rose's date, later on.

Jake and Rose had finished dinner, and were now walking through Central Park, making their way back home. Jake was walking with his hand on Jen's waist, while Jen rested her head on Jake's shoulder, hugging his torso. They looked like an average couple just out for a good night's walk.

"So, you think Bridge is doing ok?" Jake broke the silence.

"No, she wants me to keep her distance, I think I came on too strong for her, so she thinks I'm fake. I'll keep trying but I think we're doing pretty good." Jen replied.

"Yeah, well, Bridge isn't exactly the hugging type, or affectionate type for that matter." Jake shrugged.

"Really, well then, it seems that James did a real number on her, because she was in a very affectionate mood with him." Jen smirked.

"Hmm, maybe it's just resentment towards adults? Particularly female ones? She never really took well with my mom, and she's ok with Trixie, she takes her more as a friend than an actual parental figure. But I'm not worried, I'm sure she'll come around." Jake speculated.

"Lucky you, I'm dead worried, especially about Fu. If he spills the beans on me, I swear, I think he's going to be the first magical dog to be slayed." Jen grumbled

"Easy there Huntress, no need to be sharpening your swords just yet." Jake snickered.

"Don't worry Dragon Boy, my swords are always sharpened, especially for you." Jen smirked.

"I feel honoured. But to what do I owe it to?"

"To being an idiot when it comes to talking to your daughter about me, and you still owe me that lamp."

"Are you ever going to let that go!" Jake groaned.

"Nope, not until you buy me one."

"I'll put it on my to-do list right away."

"Right, like how you've been doing for the past 13 or so years?"

"Hey! I've had other things to be worried about! Like raising our daughter."

"I'm not even going to begin in trying to answer that, because it always leads to us having a pointless argument."

Jake knew she was right, and settled with just leaning his head down a bit, and kissing her. They stopped walking and just got into each other's embrace, while sharing a passionate kiss.

After they decided that breathing would be a good thing not to avoid, they broke apart, almost unwillingly. But let go nonetheless.

"Let's go home, it's late, and Fu must have already spilled the beans on our whole family tree." Jen sighed.

"Let's go." Jake replied, squeezing Jen's shoulder as a gesture of comfort and assurance.

The couple then walked back to their house. When they closed the door, they saw Fu just reading the paper.

"Hey Fu, has Bridge gone to sleep?" Jake asked.

"Yep, she did, not too long ago. The kid was falling over in sleep." Fu answered.

"So Fu, what did you guys do?" Jen asked, getting serious.

"You know, we just talked, nothing important or mind blowing, just plain old talking, yep, nothing more." Fu blabbed, trying to not get caught.

"You're a terrible liar Fu, you know that?" Jen countered, getting into her Huntress persona. "Again I ask, what did you guys do?"

Fu then explained everything, he knew he had been threatened to not say anything, but if there was one thing worse than a ticked off teenage dragon, was a pissed adult dragon and a slayer threatening you for information on their child.

They finally decided that it would be best to wait and see, and not confront Bridge about everything now, because Bridge was getting more and more angry, and like a volcano, they had to blow up sometime. Jen would be staying over tonight, since she really didn't want to go back to the Huntsclan right now, she just wanted to be with her family.

==Some hours later

Rose woke up, hearing some whimpering. She got up from the bed, after having dislodged herself from Jake, and went to Bridge's room. She found her daughter thrashing around her bed, clearly having the nightmare. She first gently tried to wake the poor girl up. When that didn't work, she scooped the girl up and enveloped her in a hug.

"Relax sweetheart, I'm right here, no one's going to hurt you." Jen soothed.

Slowly, Bridge's thrashing subsided, and she started whimpering and crying.

"_Hush, don't cry, just let your fears melt away, you're safe, you're loved, no one can ever change that, always remember that, my sweet child, while you dream of happiness."_ Jen sang, soothing the child in her arms. She had sung that to her when she was small, and it always made Bridge fall asleep. Now it calmed the teenager. But she was still distressed.

Bridge was snuggling with the person that was hugging her, feeling safe in the person's warm embrace and kind words and music. Then, she realized who it was that was hugging her and broke away, scared.

"Shh, don't worry sweetheart, I know I promised I would be more distant, but you wouldn't wake up, and you seemed to be in a terrible nightmare." Jen soothed her, trying to explain herself. Bridge looked so scared and vulnerable, but she was very shocked at what Bridge did next.

Instead of the reproach she was expecting, Bridgette rushed up and hugged Jen, burying her face into her mother's chest.

"Shh, it's ok sweetheart, don't worry, everything is alright." Jen soothed. She then realized that Bridgette had fallen asleep on her. She didn't have the heart to dislodge herself, for fear of waking her, and so just made herself comfortable and slept.

* * *

**Tadaa! So Jen and Bridge have some bonding moments, Fu gets really backed up into a corner with all the family drama and who do you think Bridge is planning to question with all of this info? who knows? I do! Maybe you'll also know if you can figure out the snippet.**

_"Morning sweetheart."_

_"Guys, there has to be someone that knows who my dad would have dated in middle school."_

_"Ms. Long? As in Jake Long's daughter? Well, this is a surprise. Who did he end up managing to marry? Rather, who was the poor soul?"_

_"Who did my dad date in middle school?"_

_"Ah yes, Rose Killdragonosa, he was head over heels for her. But she was out of his league, nothing in common. Left suddenly for no apparent reason."_

_"No way is your dad dating Jen Phillips?"_

_"Killdragonosa...that sounds like kill dragons, you don't think?"_

_"Dude! The place was crawling with Huntsdudes! They guy made me keep my head down, but I peeked."_

_"I'm so confused!"_

_"Dragon! It'll be my pleasure to kill you!"_

_"I'll give you that pleasure Hunter, when you manage to beat me and capture me!"_

**[suspenseful music!] so worry not, sometime before monday, the next chapter of both stories will be posted! Can anyone figure out who the mysterious character is? All identifying traits have been removed to make it more mysterious, but identifiable nonetheless, just think.**

**Hope everyone enjoyed this!**


	12. Principal Professor Rotwood, Oh Dear

**Could it be? I uploaded another chapter? Yes I did! Better late than never! Ok, so this is probably going to be more intense than the last chapter, not language or violence wise, but certain people discover somethings...well it's just one person and they discover one thing, but anywho :P Here it is!**

**Wolvmbm: Why/how are her friends weird? Secondly...it's just one kid, and she does know! She found out when Fu blabbed! Fitz is supposed to be that way, he's smart but socially, he's akward around people. Which make it hard for him to make friends. Thanks! And the reason why Bridge doesn't ask Trixie or Spud is explained in this chapter :) Oh yeah. they're definetly both to blame...that's a fact :P Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**Luiz4200: Nope, not Spud ;) Fu could, and might...but with other info. I don't know about that...Fu seems really loyal, so bribery might not work for something more substantial. We'll see how acquainted she is with them more in my Spies story. But it's not that close of a relationship. Enjoy the chapter!**

**GG: Thanks! [facepalm] wow...I don't believe I didn't catch that :P Well, I used it here! I'm not quite sure about the last name...I think it was mentioned in passing sometime, but people have taken liberties with that, and Jake, Jake was heads over heels in love, I don't think he would have figured it out back then :P Bridgette just asked the right people. Enjoy the chapter!**

**This is surprising: no one guessed it :P Well, you'll find out! Hope everyone enjoys this, and thank you to all those that faved, put me and/or the story on your alerts, and all of you that have commented, as well as all of you silent readers! If you have any questions, ask away! I have absolutely no problem in answering it!**

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==The next morning.

Jen woke up, and wondered where in the world she was, considering the unfamiliar surroundings. She then realized that her daughter was sleeping on her, and everything came flooding back. She smiled, hoping that yesterday night's hug from her daughter hadn't been a crazy spur of the moment thing. Jen then started to wake her daughter up, mainly because she couldn't get up herself without waking Bridge up.

"Morning sweetheart." Jen shook her gently.

Bridge's eyes fluttered open, and then she yelped and jumped back as she realized who had been her comfortable pillow. "What-what's going on?"

"You fell asleep on me, remember? You had a nightmare, and I comforted you, you can relax, no need to worry."

"Oh, sorry about that." Bridge grinned embarrassed.

"Oh sweetheart! You don't need to apologize! Everyone has their ups and downs, and you shouldn't be reprimanded for that." Jen grinned at her, keeping her distance. She would not try to force herself on Bridge again.

Bridge once again surprised Jen by hugging her. "I'm sorry if I seemed rude...I just don't know how to act with you around...I just get uncomfortable, and I'm not much of a hugger, but I'm slowly getting there."

Jen deepened the hug, feeling happy. "No need to apologize." She breathed.

"Sorry for breaking up this emotional scene, but what you _are_ going to be reprimanded for, is for getting to school _late_." Jake smirked.

"Shit!" Bridge jumped up and rushed around, getting her stuff ready.

After some minutes of chaos, in which Jake and Jen calmly sat down in the kitchen sipping their coffees, Bridge slid down the stairs.

"Alright, I'm going out now!" Bridge said.

"Hold on a second. You have training after school. At four, sharp! Knight will also be there, so try to get there on time?"

"At four! But that means I only get one hour with my friends!" Bridge exclaimed.

"Consider yourself lucky, Gramps used to make me come directly after school." Jake warned. "Do you prefer that?"

"Nah, I'm good. See ya!" And with that, she bolted out.

==At school

"Guys, there has to be someone that knows who my dad would have dated in middle school!" Bridge was trying to convince Fitz and Art to help her. She decided to keep James out of this, mainly just in case it ended up having to do with magical stuff. She would heed her dad's words for now.

"My parents would, but they might tattle to your dad, then you'd be in trouble." Art sighed, shaking her head. "Plus, I don't see them dishing their old friend out."

"I've got it! You could ask some of your dad's other old friends!" Fitz exclaimed.

"Nah, that won't work, they would all be the same as Art's parents. Plus, we don't want to bring attention to ourselves." Bridge replied dejectedly.

"How about a teacher? They went to the same school we did!" Art said.

"That's true! They would know! Hmm, who should we ask?" Bridge asked, forming a plan.

"We could ask Mrs. Norman?" Fitz asked.

"Ok, just ask her something to do with the age of the school, you're new here, so you'd be more inconspicuous." Bridge planned out.

"Sounds good, here comes Prince Charming. We'll catch you later girl." Art said, waving at the lovestruck girl.

"Hey Bridge. Did your dad calm down a bit on the whole topic of us dating?" James jabbed, after having shared a kiss.

"Totally, he now has given up on the torture chamber, but he's still keen on having you dangling from a cliff, and questioning you, nothing major." Bridge grinned.

"Ouch, your dad could rival some of the people at my mom's organization!" James whistled, pretending to be afraid.

Bridge laughed. "Oh dear, my dad might be overprotective, but I'm sure he won't ever get to that point."

"I hope not."

==Some minutes later, Mythology.

"Well, Ms. Long, I must say, this has been a record two days for you! If you're trying to get me to raise your marks, you can try a different tack, because this one won't work. That doesn't mean I want you to come late however." Mrs. Norman said, smirking.

"Heh heh, thanks. Oh, don't worry, I'm sure I'll keep it up." Bridge replied, sitting in her seat, wanting to disappear.

"Oh, Mrs. Norman! I'm curious, how old is this school?" Fitz asked, raising his hand in the air.

"This school? Hmm, some fifty years or so." Mrs. Norman replied. Since there were still some minutes before class, they had time for some free talk on such a random subject.

"Cool! So, who's the teacher that's been here the longest?" Fitz asked, appearing astounded.

"I guess it would be Mr.-"

"Principal Professor !" Came the voice on the PA system.

Mrs Norman rolled her eyes, to the humour of all the kids in there. "Principal Professor Rotwood has been here for the longest."

"Cool, thanks." Fitz said, finishing the conversation.

"Any specific nature for your question Mr. Jones?"

"Nah, curiosity." Fitz replied, shrugging his shoulders

==Lunch time.

Bridgette made her way to the office, and asked to speak to the Principal. She was soon ushered in, where she saw a gray haired man with very little hair, and with the little hair he did have, he used to spread it all over his head, in an attempt to create the illusion of having much hair. He also had ridiculous expression, and a heavy accent.

"Vell? How mai Ay help yu?" Rotwood asked.

"Hi, I'm Bridgette Long-"

"Ms. Long? As een Jacob Long's daughter? Vell, thees ees a surprise. Vo deed he end up managing to marrie? Rather, vo vas the poor soul that mothered yu?"

"Erm that I'm not quite sure. I don't know who she is, she ran away after I was born." Bridge replied.

"Eh, Ay knew that theere could not be a voman vo managed to stay vith Long for long." Rotwood smirked, his displeasure showing.

" You see, I'm trying to find her. So it would help me greatly if you could tell me who my dad dated in middle school?"

"Vo deed he date? Hmm, let me look een the yearbook, it vould help me." Rotwood did just that, coming back to sit down with the book. Bridgette went around to look over his shoulder.

"Ok, so who do you think?" Bridge asked.

"Hmm, from the top of mein head, I can only think of two people. This Danika Honeycutt, and vat vas her name? Ah yes, Rose Killdragonosa, he vas head over heels for her. But she vas out of hees league, nothing in common. Left suddenly for no apparent reason."

Bridge hadn't ever heard of any of the two women. She saw one was a dark haired girl, with eyes dark as her hair. Another girl, she was a blond with bright blue eyes. Her eyes narrowed in realization. The girl had blue eyes, she had blue eyes. That much was very clear. She suddenly felt a bit dizzy. "Thanks for this, Mr. Rotwood." Bridge said, running from the room.

"IT'S PRINCIPAL PROFESSOR ROTWOOD!" He yelled after her.

== Cafeteria

Bridgette got to the cafeteria, and saw her friends being accosted by the one person she didn't want to deal with: Amy.

"So Long, you think being pale, and looking like you're about to vomit will get you out of being ridiculed by me? Didn't your mom ever tell you that it's not nice to lie to people?" Amy stopped for a second and then looked like she realized something. "Oh, that's right, you don't have a mother."

"She will! Her dad is dating Jen Phillips." Fitz exclaimed, getting Bridge to cringe at that idea. She never had thought of it that way.

"No way is your dad dating Jen Phillips?" Amy scoffed. "I mean, your dad can date whoever he wants, but I'm surprised that after she saw you she didn't run for the hills! Or did she not meet you yet? Better keep holding that meeting off until later, else she's going to drop your father faster than a speeding train.

"Just leave us along Morton! Before you get more of Friday!" Art threatened, raising her fist up again.

"Puh-lease! Leave it off! So, no teacher to lecture me here Long, so you can drop the sick girl act, and fight back." Amy snorted.

"Well, then, what should I consider myself? A supervisor? Or a totally annoying bitch? Ms Morton, you are getting on my nerves." Mrs. Norman cleared her throat.

Amy blanched. "Mrs. Norman! Heh heh, we were just joking around."

"Principal's office, now!"

"Yes ma'am."

As Amy left, Mrs. Norman sized Bridgette up. She looked pale and sick. "Ms. Long, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just need some fresh air." Bridgette nodded, going for the door. Her two friends followed her out.

"So girl, what's up? Did you find out her name?" Art asked, once they were out of earshot.

"Yeah, I think I did. Her name is Rose Killdragonosa." Bridge spat the name out, like it was some revolting thing.

"Killdragonosa...that sounds like kill dragons, you don't think?" Fitz asked.

"Yeah, that's the whack part that's got me worried. You think you can search it up Art?" Bridge turned to her best friend.

"Been there, done that girl. Ok, nothing on your mysterious woman, but there is a Thomas Killdragonosa? I found some hidden files for some ownership documents, maybe he's related? It's one of those big mansions just out of the city." Art read off the page, and then formulated a plan, "want to go check it out after school?"

"Sure that sounds like a good idea."

==At the address.

"Ok, so, who wants to go inside?" Bridge asked.

"Wouldn't you want to go inside? You're the one who wants to confront her!" Fitz replied getting confused.

"Boy, do you seriously want me to smack you? We have to find out what kind of place this is, before we go all crazy and break in!" Art said, exasperated.

"Alright! I'll just go and ask to use the bathroom." He shrugged, getting up from their hiding spot.

"They aren't really going to fall for that boy's crazy antics are they?" Art asked, not sounding convinced at all.

And yet, after a couple of minutes, Fitz was in. He came back out after a while, looking weirded out.

"Dude! The place was crawling with Huntsdudes! They guy made me keep my head down, but I peeked."

"Say WHAT! That place is the Huntsclan Headquarters? But, that means that the woman-"

"Is part of the Huntsclan...ouch." Art finished her friend's sentence

"I'm so confused!" Bridge exclaimed. "My dad has really weird tastes in women! First a dragon killer, now a fashion designer that knows about the magical world? What's next, a strigoi?"

"That would be hilarious! So, what are you going to do about it?" Fitz asked.

"I'm going to keep quiet about this. Then, I'll spring this on dad one day, and maybe he'll tell me the truth about her. Then, I can go in and kill her! An eye for an eye, she kills magical creatures, I kill her."

"It'll just make everyone blind. Who do you think she is, in the Huntsclan?" Art sighed, wishing her friend would just give up on this.

"Probably not someone high up like the Huntress or anything like that, they're the most dedicated, and not likely to want to have any social life, especially not with a dragon! Shit! I'm going to be late for my dragon training! Come on!" Bridge exclaimed.

They all jumped up on their boards and fled the place.

==Lao Shi's Shop

"Wow dragon, you really should get Bridge to be more punctual." Violet smirked, looking at the clock which was now pointing at ten past four.

"You know what? You can just shove your punctuality-" Jake got interrupted by a staff trained on him.

"Watch it dragon, I'm not that kind and lenient." Violet growled, her mask now reflecting her mood.

"Uh, am I interrupting something?" Bridge asked, in the doorway of the backroom.

"Bridgette! Why are you late?" Jake asked, firm.

"I was just hanging with my friends!" Bridge defended herself, albeit a bit poorly.

"Doesn't matter. Anyway, let's get started training."

Jake and Bridge dragoned up, and they defended themselves against Knight, who was more pissed at Jake, and wanting to hurt him, but at the same time, didn't want to hurt her niece.

They continued training late in the afternoon. Then, when evening fell, they decided to start patrolling the city. Jake offered to give Knight a ride on his back, since Bridge was as of yet, incapable of carrying so much weight due to being inexperienced. Knight just growled at him and got on her hoverboard. Lao Shi and Fu Dog also accompanied them, for back up.

==Central Park

Hunter was excited. His first mission, and it wasn't with just anyone. To his side, he had the Huntress, Huntsgirl, Huntsboy, as well as his mother, the Huntswoman, all the big names, he hoped he would make a good impression on them, and not embarrass them.

"When are they coming?" He asked impatiently.

"Patience, the Unicorns are coming right... now." His mother replied, just as a stampede came at them.

He and the others went out, hoping to catch some unicorns, but were stopped by a group of three dragons, a dog, and a woman in a grotesque mask.

The dragons attacked. Jake went after the Huntress, Knight got with Huntsgirl, Huntsboy and Huntswoman were against Lao Shi and Fu Dog, while Bridge was with Hunter.

"Dragon! It'll be my pleasure to kill you!" Hunter growled, hoping for an easy kill.

"I'll give you that pleasure Hunter, when you manage to beat me and capture me!" The dragon jabbed at him. Both physically and metaphorically.

"So princess, is that the best you can do?" He asked, as he himself used his staff to attack and defend himself without breaking a sweat.

"Keep dreaming. You idiot."

"Oh I will! I'll be dreaming of your hide on my wall!"

They kept at it, until Huntswoman stated "Hunter, let's get out of here."

"Till next time, princess."

"You keep practising, you might just get 10 meters closer to me, Huntsidiot." Bridge joked. "So how did I do?" She asked, once the Huntsclan had left.

"You did great Bridge! First time I fought them, I was in my trunks." Jake chuckled.

"Wow dad, you're full of surprises. I'm sure they loved it." Bridge said.

Jake sighed. "You have no idea." But he wasn't referring to whether or not the Huntsclan loved seeing him in his undies. He was referring to the amount of surprises, more like shocking secrets, he had.

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**Yep, Rotwood dishes it out! Still the same annoying idiot, and sorry about the accent, I'm NOT in any way whatsoever trying to make fun or anything about the accent, it's merely for entertainment purposes :)**

**So, next chapter...hmmm, I'm banking on by one week later, ergo, next monday :) **

**No snippet here, sorry :P might give too much away :S**

**Hope everyone enjoyed!**


	13. International Disaster Show

**As promised, the new chapter! Yay :) Still going strong! Anywho, this chapter isn't really long, but I hope everyone enjoys it :)**

**GG: Thanks! Yep, Bridge finds something everywhere she goes pretty much :P Glad you think so :D Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Luiz4200: Oh yeah, she'll probably be ready to faint or something :P As for her grandparents, it's what I'm trying to explain in Spies, but I haven't gotten around finishing that :P They might, I haven't really thought about it :P Hope you enjoy the chapter! **

**Wolvmbm: Thanks! We'll see what she does about it...it's a secret for now :P Yeah, I thought that Jake had it way too rough, and it gave me time to add that part outside the Huntsclan :D Glad you liked the fight! What do you mean? Haley is in the Huntsclan, and she's given up on being a dragon, mainly because Jake was the Am Drag, so there really was nothing for her. Plus, she can't really dragon up in front of the Huntsclan, now can she? I'm afraid your question didn't make a lot of sense, does that explain it? No, Fitz isn't Spud and Trixie's kid. He's just a kid, with no relation to Art whatsoever. Glad you like Rotwood :) I just needed to add him :D Thanks! And we'll see about that, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Onej6: Don't worry about it :D There's no rule saying you MUST review :) We'll see about the finding out soon part, you never know what'll happen...if it happens, hell will break loose, and then it's every man for themselves :P I'll take your word for it on COD, not being a player, I wouldn't know [mouths are hanging open] what? I don't play it! [people just faint] anywho... hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**BTW! I have posted the cover to Hidden Lives: Protectors! You can see it by either visiting my profile, and if you want to see a larger version, go to my dA page by clicking on 'homepage' on my profile :)**

**Another thing: I have posted another story, completely unrelated to my Hidden Lives Series, called: The Sacrifices We Make For The Ones We Love...I might shorten the title. But anyway, check it out and tell me what you think!**

* * *

==That Friday Evening

The week had gone by without much more going on, Hunter was being a pain, Mrs. Norman continued teaching things that were always accurate, and Jen continued learning more about Bridgette. However, what Fitz said scared her. Sure she knew that if Jen married her dad, she would become a second parent to her, but would Bridgette ever work up the courage to call her 'mom'? Would it be even fair to associate the designer with that foul woman? That worried her, and she wondered when her dad would consider it time to marry her. They had been going on dates pretty much every other day or so, and Bridge was left on those days to work with Knight. Well, she would see how tonight panned out, since it was the IFS.

Bridgette was getting ready. She had had no problem getting her dress on and everything. But now, she was attempting to tie her long black hair into a loose ponytail, but was failing miserably at it. She heard a knock at the door.

"What?" She grumbled.

"You ok in there? It seems like you're having a war with something in there! Do you want any help?" She heard Jen's voice muffled ask.

"Argh! Fine, I'm not getting anywhere with this stupid hair anyway." Bridge sighed as she opened the door.

Jen went inside and let out a giggle at the girl's hair. "Oh sweetheart, it's clear you still need some practice with that. Here, let's see what I can do about it."

After a couple of minutes of brushing and some hair organizing, her hair was ready.

"So, what do you think? I'm not great at hair, but I can get by with it." Jen asked, shrugging her shoulders.

"It's great, thanks." Bridgette said, astounded at how different her hair looked. For a second, she looked in the mirror, and an image of the girl, whose hair was in a similar fashion, in the yearbook flashed before her eyes. She let out a yelp involuntarily and hoped Jen hadn't caught it.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Jen hadn't missed the yelp at all.

"It's nothing, thanks, for everything." Jen had also gotten her a dress, so pretty much, Jen had provided everything for her.

"Aw sweetheart, it's not a problem! I'm glad I could help." She answered the girl, hugging her from behind.

"Now the problem is going to be with the heels. I can't walk in them." Bridge sighed.

"You'll get it down eventually. It just takes practice." Jen laughed kindly.

"Ugh, I don't really have that many opportunities. Plus, falling on my face would just give Morton more reason to make fun of me." Bridge groaned.

"Bridge, don't give her the time of day. She won' t get far in life, so don't worry. Karma will always prevail" Jen soothed her daughter.

"You guys ready? We should get going-" Jake said, but was stopped when he saw his wife and daughter together. They looked beautiful, and Jake was bursting with happiness at their closeness.

"You can pick your jaw up from the floor now." Jen smirked.

"Uh, yeah, sorry about that, anyway, shall we get going?" Jake said, shaking his head as if to clear it.

"What do you say Bridge? Are you ready?" Jen asked.

"Sure, let's go."

==At the IFS

The IFS was a sight to behold. It was spectacular just how many designers were here. But as Bridge looked around, most of them seemed kind of snobbish in real life. None of them were interested in talking to Bridgette, whom they considered to be just a kid. She wondered once again whether it was all an act that Jen had been doing. A woman couldn't be the sole kind person in a whole community of stuck up designers.

"Kate!" Jen exclaimed. She then saw a brunette with violet eyes who rushed up to Jen and hugged her. Jen hugged her back enthusiastically

"Jen, it's so good to see you! And who is this?" She asked, turning to Jake and Bridge.

"This is Jake, my boyfriend, and his daughter, Bridgette." Jen said, introducing them.

"Well, very pleased to meet you." Kate said, completely ignoring Jake, and going to greet Bridge, who got enveloped in a hug by the other designer._ It seems that it's common for the friendly designers to hug random strangers._ Bridge mused.

Jake got a glance from Kate of pure hatred. Jake gulped as he adjusted his tie.

"Oh no, how did they get in here?" Jen asked, as a mass of paparazzi came to the designers, hoping to get an exclusive.

"Ms. Phillips! Who is he?"

"Ms. Lexis! Are you back for real?"

"Where were you?"

"Who's the kid?"

"Whose kid is this?"

"Have you been hiding her?"

The questions kept pouring out. The other designers came out, and started to form a circle around the family, protecting them from the questions. Jen felt someone tugging, and saw Kate beckoning her, who was with Trixie.

Jen grabbed Jake's and Bridge's hand, guiding them away from the fray. They made their way closer to the back, getting far away from the retreating paparazzi. Once they finally got shoved out, everyone sighed, and the other designers went to give the security guards hell for not doing their jobs correctly.

Jen let out a huff "man they didn't waste a second."

"No kidding! You'd think they would be a bit more humane." Kate shook her head.

"Since when have they done that?" Trixie scoffed.

"They're like a pack of animals." Jake shuddered.

"Yeah, a pack of animals with cameras." Spud shook his head.

"Where's Bridge?" Art asked.

Everyone paled. Bridge was nowhere around them. Jen looked around frantically, ready to tear apart the idiot that had grabbed her.

"Didn't you grab her?" Jake asked.

"I did, but maybe I let go too soon, thinking she would follow!" Jen was beyond herself.

==Meanwhile

Bridge had indeed been following Jen, until someone else grabbed her. It was a couple of paparazzi. They took her out back, and wanted all the dirt on Jen.

"So kid, is she your mother?" The guy asked, looking around, all the while keeping the girl rooted to the spot by backing her into a corner.

"No, I don't have a mother." Bridge snarled. More than afraid, Bridge was pissed, and as soon as she got the opportunity, she would bolt.

"That's too bad. Do you want to dish her out for us? We'll pay you." The woman offered, not sounding a bit remorseful.

"Not even if you paid me all the money in the world would I tell you guys anything." Bridge spat.

"Aw, aren't you the loyal fan. Listen kid, do you think any of them give a damn about you? Why do you think none of the famous and glamorous ever settle down and make a family? Because they love the drama we make for them. They love what we do. You see any of them running to us and stopping us from questioning you? Do you see Jen Phillips berating us?" The guy sneered.

"Face it kid. You're just the publicity stunt, the 'designer cares about kids' ticket to get her more in touch with the working class mother. The day designers care about someone else other than themselves I will resign." The woman cackled.

Bridge's resolve was slowly fading. They were confirming her doubts, all her fears about Jen's real intention.

"I-" Bridge started.

"If you two want to live to see tomorrow you'll get the fuck away from her, or so help me, I will make sure you guys never report again." A voice growled. The two paparazzi turned around, and saw Jen, along with Jake, looking daggers at the paparazzi.

"Oh, we're so afraid. Please Jen, don't make us laugh. Tell us the truth so that this poor misguided teen can understand that she's got her priorities messed up. Tell us: do you give a damn about her?" The guy scoffed.

"I give more than a damn about her, I care for her a lot, and now I want you guys to let her go." Jen threatened.

"Not until you tell us the truth-"

Suddenly a figure jumped down from the shadows and promptly knocked the two idiots out. They hit the pavement with a sickening crunch.

"They really deserved it." Knight shrugged.

"Bridge, are you ok sweetheart?" Jen asked, advancing towards Bridge, who was quite pale.

"I'm fine. I just need some air. How did you know I was here Knight?" Bridge asked the masked woman.

For an answer, Knight removed her mask, showing the face of Kate Lexis.

"Kate?" Bridge was shocked.

"Hey." Kate grinned.

"I just need some air." Bridge said, transforming into a dragon and flying off.

Bridge had way too many thoughts floating around her head. She wanted to know the truth, but it seemed that everyone had so many secrets. _Dad has been lying to me about that hated woman, Jen might not give a damn about me, Kate is Knight, and not to mention the fact that I'm very moody nowadays. What am I going to do?_

==Somewhere else

The two paparazzi that had cornered Bridge returned to their apartment, where they wanted to rest after that long night. They had partied, after having woken up and gotten their bruises fixed. They were by now a bit drunk and wanted to turn the lights on, but were failing miserably at it.

"Turn on the lights." The man growled.

"I am, it's not turning on." The woman slurred.

Suddenly a light went on, but not the one that would be prompted by the switch. If they thought they weren't drunk now, they certainly did now. They saw three masked people, one of them was wearing a cape with a hood.

"What are you guys doing in our rooomsz?" The man asked.

"Getting revenge, and to teach you guys a lesson." The woman with the hood replied, taking out her staff, which glowed a nasty green.

Suffice it to say that it was not a pleasant night for the two paparazzi.

* * *

**Hmm, was I too harsh on the two paparazzi? No real hatred towards them...I just needed to show Rose's protectiveness :P**

**And yeah! So that was the International Disaster Show :P Bridge's head must be ready to explode with everything...I wonder what she'll do?**

**You'll have to wait and see!**

**Till next week, or maybe even earlier!**

**Oh right, snippet!**

_"No, I feel like crap. I feel like I can't trust anyone anymore."_

_"I don't understand why she would want to have to put up with me!"_

_"It's not something that you pick and choose."_

_"Let's get you home, they must be worried sick about you."_

_"Bridge, please, try to understand-"_

_"NO! YOU TRY TO"_

_"Bridgette Angel Long, I won't have you talking like this."_

_"Who was she dad?"_

_"You have Huntsclan blood in you."_

_"Why?"_

_"ARGH! I'm just going out."_

_"Dragon scum."_

_"Where, is, she!"_

_"I can't believe it."_

_"Now everything makes sense."_

_"You don't hate me?"_

**Yep, that was long...why? Because it's a long chapter! So get ready, because next installment will be long! No pun inteded :P**


	14. The Volcano Erupts

**Yay! New chapter!**

**Ok, so this one is very long! Some people are revealed, others aren't and feelings are let out! Hope you enjoy it!**

**I am nearing the end of this segment of Hidden Lives. Maybe 6-7 chapters more? We'll see. Next up: Hidden Lives: Humans!**

**Wolvmbm: Yep, it's going to be very difficult. And even Kate isn't who she seems. We'll see how that works out, below. Thank you very much, and enjoy the chapter!**

**Luiz4200: Learns of whom? She does learn about someone...but the whole truth? Not really :) You'll know what I mean by the end of the chapter. Hope you enjoy it!**

**Enjoy everyone!**

* * *

==A month later

Bridge had been flying around aimlessly, like she did nowadays, losing track of time, and had landed on the Empire State Building to think. Suddenly, she sensed someone else's presence around her.

"Hey." Knight said.

"Hey yourself." Bridge grumbled.

"You ok?" Knight asked, coming to sit beside the young dragon.

"Physically? I'm grand." Bridge replied sarcastically.

"You know what I mean."

"No, I feel like crap. I feel like I can't trust anyone anymore."

"You do know that's what those idiots wanted to happen right? They wanted you to feel like Jen doesn't care about you, but she does!"

"Yeah?" Bridge scoffed. " That's the thing I don't get. Jen could date any guy, who's not a single parent, and have a happy life with them. Instead, she goes for my dad, who has me, and acts like everything is peachy. I don't understand why she would want to have to put up with me!"

"Bridge, when you like someone, it's not something that you pick and choose. It just happens. Plus, the fact that Jen has hung on with dating your dad for what is it? Two months? Is a clear sign she doesn't mind you at all. I actually think the reason they haven't married yet is so that you can get used to it."

"Used to what?"

"To having a second parent."

"Oh." Bridge whispered.

"Come on, let's get you home, they must be worried sick about you." Knight said, standing up.

And so, Knight and Bridge made their way home to the latter's house. Bridgette had been very quiet in the last month, and no one could figure out why. She hardly talked to anyone, even to her friends. James was no exception, as he was also given the same treatment. Even when she was fighting the Huntsclan, she was quiet, fighting skilfully, but not a single banter or anything.

Truth was, Bridgette was trying to figure all the bits and pieces out, so that she could confront her father about it.

== Long House

"Bridge, can we talk to you?" Jake asked when Bridge went inside.

"Sure dad." They went to the living room where they sat down across from one another. Jen wasn't there at the moment, so it was just the two of them.

"Can you tell me what's going on? You're way too quiet for this. We're all worried about you! Please, just talk to me, just me and no one else."

"I'm just so confused! I feel like everyone's lying to me!"

"Bridge, please, try to understand-"

"NO! YOU TRY TO UNDERSTAND!"

"Bridgette Angel Long, I won't have you talking like this."

" Fine, it's just that, all my life you told me that that woman was something you didn't want to talk about! Now I found out that not only is she in the city, but that she's also part of the Huntsclan? Who was she dad?"

"Who told you this?" Jake asked, paling.

"Well, based on what Fu told me, I guessed that someone would know who you were dating in middle school, and we found out that there was a teacher there who knew. Mr-"

"PRINCIPAL PROFESSOR!" A voice screamed in the night.

"-Rotwood told me of two girls. A girl called Danika, and a girl called Rose. The girl, Rose has the same colour eyes that I do. Her last name is Killdragonosa, and Art searched it up, and when Fitz went inside, he saw Huntsclan people. What happened dad, I want to know!"

" Bridgette, this isn't an easy subject. I, uh- thing was, she can't get out of the Huntsclan you know. It's not something you up and quit. You can try, but good luck getting back and not being killed. We knew that we couldn't raise a family, and, when we found out she was going to have you, we decided that, if you were born a dragon, or human, I would raise you, but if you were born with the mark, she would raise you. The rest is history, but the thing is, you have Huntsclan blood in you."

Bridgette was just speechless. "What? Why? You mean, you knew all this time that I wouldn't have two parents?"

"Yeah, we did."

"But, why didn't you at least get me to meet her?"

"We didn't want to give you a false sense of having someone who couldn't be there for you."

"And so that makes her entitled to not have to raise me?" Bridge scoffed. "Please dad, I'm sure that even if I had been born Huntsclan, you'd still have raised me."

"Bridge, I- you shouldn't be so hard on her."

"Right dad, because she's always been there for me, and given me a reason to love her. I despise her! If I ever see her, I'm going to show her what a dragon can do and make her regret doing this."

"Regret what? The fact that she loved me? The fact that she had you, when she could have said no and aborted? Face it Bridge, she's responsible for the fact you're living."

"But- Just-ARGH! I'm just going out." Bridge stormed off, transforming into a dragon and flying off one of the windows.

==Around NYC

Bridge was fuming. How could her father defend that coward of a woman after everything. Bridge was seriously considering storming the Huntsclan Center, but then remembered the Huntress, and if she was caught, she would be in deep shit.

Suddenly, a net showed up from nowhere and enveloped her, making her come crashing down.

" Caught you, Dragon scum." Someone sneered as Bridge slowly blacked out from the force of her impact, hoping she wouldn't transform while unconscious.

==Huntsclan Academy

"Ok guys, where's the fire?" Hunter asked as he was playfully dragged to a classroom. Hunter was a favourite with the younger kids. They looked up to him, for some reason, and he often helped them with homework and such.

"We have to show you something really cool!" Mark, exclaimed.

"Yeah! We saw some of the instructors bring it in!" Megan, Mark's twin, replied.

"Bring what in guys?" James asked, wondering what the heck they were talking about.

"A dragon!" Another kid, Nick, exclaimed.

"Say What?" James yelped. "They can get in serious trouble for that! The Huntress will tear them apart!"

"Soo? Come on, let's take a look!" Mark whined.

They went inside the classroom, where indeed, there was a blue and black dragon on a table, being held by a net. James recognized the dragon to be the American Dragon, and was instantly jealous of the instructors who managed to catch it. He was taken out of his thoughts by Nick talking.

'So Hunter, what do you think?"

"I think that we need to get this dragon stashed somewhere before the Huntress finds out and goes on a rampage." James replied. _And maybe then kill her._ James added as an afterthought.

"Cool, so where-" Megan stopped as she heard voices outside.

"Where, is, she!" James heard the Huntress snarl to someone outside.

James wasted no time in huddling everyone together beside the table with the dragon, and getting everyone to grab him. He then took out his staff, and grabbing the dragon, they teleported into another classroom.

James sighed as he relaxed. He then turned to the young 10 year olds. "You guys need to get back to your dorms as swiftly as possible, and tell no one about this ok?"

"Why did you take the dragon?" Mark asked.

"Because, I have my reasons." James replied stoically.

They then parted ways, with James returning to his home in NYC.

==The Huntsmansion

Bridge opened her eyes to a full blown migraine, and the eyes of Hunter.

"AHH!" Bridge yelped, trying to back off. She then looked down and saw that her torso was intertwined with re-enforced rope.

"Quiet Dragon! Do you want to get your ass handed to the Huntress?" Hunter sneered.

"No. But neither will I give it to you!" Bridge snarled.

"Seems like you're not in the position to decide that, are you, Princess?"

"You just wait! You're going to wish you never captured me Freak!"

"Oh, now I'm truly afraid of the feral dragon! "

"You will-" Bridge was interrupted by Hunter grabbing her snout, making her shut up, as he heard someone approach his door. He then heard knocking, and panicked. He did the first thing that came to his head: hide the Dragon under his bed.

"Not a sound Dragon, unless you want to be handed over to the higher order." James harshly whispered.

James opened the door, expecting the worst, but was met with his mother.

"What's going on?" James asked, as he saw his mother.

"Can't I visit my son without there being something going on?" Gwen answered, going inside the room.

"Well, yeah, but, is there something going on? I keep hearing people going left and right."

"Yeah, the American Dragon, the kid mind you, went missing. It was then revealed that some of the instructors captured her, getting the Huntress to raise hell. But now she's gone, and no one knows how she escaped."

"Sounds like quite the story."

"Now James, is everything alright? You seem down lately." Bridge heard this and tensed. _This guy was named James, like my boyfriend, and his eyes resembled that of him, but I won't believe that this monster and my boyfriend were one and the same! James was a common name-_

"It's nothing mom, Bridge has just been down for the past month, and she won't talk to anyone." James sighed. "It must be something with her parents."

Now Bridge was pale, and scared. This was too much to be a coincidence, and she was shocked beyond words. _I can't believe it._ Was the only thing she was thinking.

"Honey, don't take it too to heart. You should just ask her, I'm sure she'll tell you. Anyway, I'm going back to help, before the Huntress slays one of them. Goodnight."

"'Night mom."

As the door closed, James breathed out in relief. He helped Bridge out, and set her on his bed again.

"Woah. I know the underside of my bed is dusty, but not enough to make you look sick!" James exclaimed, getting a look at the dragon's face.

"You monster! I'm surprised you have a friend, but it seems you're having trouble with her! Kind of hard to keep a relationship being a freak?" Bridge shot back, now angry.

"Shut up will you! You don't know anything about her, or the problems she's facing." James shot back.

"Like you do."

"More than you!"

"So what are you planning? Slaying me? Is that it?"

"I may want you dead, but I would rather have to catch you again, than to face the Huntress now."

"Someone's scared."

"As if! The Huntress is a force to be reckoned with! You can't just do as you please! The poor souls who do that are never heard from again!"

"Uh huh. Anyway, did you ever think that maybe not killing us would be a good thing! I mean, why do you hate us so much?" Bridge would try a different tack, trying to see who James really was: this monster that pretended to be kind, or her boyfriend who had no other choice but to do this.

James sighed "I don't know. You guys are monsters and vile creatures! We're just making the world a better place for humans by making sure you guys don't hurt anyone."

"Yeah, that's why you see us attacking everything we see left and right, you know?"

"You attack us."

"Because you want our pelts! Look, we're the good guys! There are magical creatures that are evil, but not us! We protect the innocent ones against anything which might endanger them."

"Argh, like that's believable." James shook his head. "Who are you by the way? You seem really familiar?"

"No one you know." Bridge answered, a little bit too quickly.

"I don't believe you." James countered.

"Well, don't, but I still won't tell you." Bridge defended.

"You tell me, and I'll let you free." James offered.

"And if I don't?" Bridge asked.

"The Huntress will get a nice present." James sneered.

"I- Please don't make me do this." Bridge pleaded, not wanting to find out how James reacted to seeing her.

"Come on! How bad can it be? Come on Dragon!" James coaxed.

Bridge transformed, but left her head into that of a dragon.

"Now that's cheating! I asked who you are, not to see your human torso." James then thought for a moment, wondering where he had heard that voice before, seen those eyes and clothes before.

"You promise you won't kill me?" Bridge asked.

"I promise. But I think I know who you are." James replied, taking his mask off.

Bridge looked at him, wanting to see if it was a joke.

James, for his part, took Bridge's dragon face into his hands. "Come on Bridge, just show me."

Bridge widened her eyes, as she lowered her gaze and her body made the final transformation to human. Bridge was expecting anything but what happened. He kissed her.

"Now everything makes sense." James said, as they broke apart. He held her to him, caressing her.

"You don't hate me?" Bridge asked.

"Never have, and never will. And I most definitely am rethinking that about dragons." James replied, kissing her forehead.

"Now, let's get you back home before the Huntress does a sweep check."

James grabbed his staff and teleported them to the roof of Bridge's house. "Thank you James."

"No problem Bridge, I love you, very much, and won't let anyone harm you, especially people from the Huntsclan."

They kissed, and bade each other goodnight, now feeling extremely happy with their significant other.

* * *

**James and Bridge found out! Was that too anti-climatic? I hope not :P**

**And Bridge now knows a bit more about...'the woman' but her feelings are still livid. We also see that Rotwood [PRINCIPAL PROFESSOR!] _whatever_, can yell very loudly across the city, and out of the fic :P**

**Anyway, I would really appreciate that if you're reading this story, could you _please_ leave me a review! You don't even need an account, and it would make me a _very_ happy person!**

**Anywho, no snippet for today, sorry :P Not sure about the next chapter now, but worry not! By next week, it'll be there!**

**Hope you enjoyed it!**

**Hezpeller**


	15. Blood is Thicker than Water

**Yeah! Can you believe it? I uploaded another chapter! Why? Because I need to take a break while doing homework and I do this! Ergo, I upload and write more when I'm buried with homework [I know, bad habit] but ech, I'm still surviving.**

**Anyway, thanks to the people that reviewed, and due to your suggestions, I have added a new scene!**

**And another thing, I kind of messed up in the last chapter, when I mentioned that Mark, Megan and Nick were 10...they're 8. Why is that so important? Because Megan and Mark are Haley and David's kids! Yes,I have finally named them! Haha! So yeah, that was their first appearance here, and last, until like, the next story or so :P**

**Onej6: Thanks! Poor who? I think you're missing a word there :P Well, here's the update, so wait no longer! Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**rik: Thanks! Ah, for that, you will have to continue wondering, but it will be before the end of this particular story! Yep, I have gotten James in the searching, as seen below :) Enjoy the chapter!**

**Wolvmbm: Ah, sorry about that, I tried to see how I would make the revelation, and this appealed to me more :P Well, not the whole truth... her life is still pretty complicated :P Hmmm, I wonder if they will meet? officially I mean ;) Thanks! Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**Luiz4200: Irony is a great thing no? Done :) Since so many asked, I have included that :D Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**BueserDragon: Yay! Glad you like it! Do you? Please do tell me! I would love to hear it! You and everyone else wants to know :P Hope you enjoy the chapter! **

* * *

==At the Rooftop.

"Wait! James!" Bridge exclaimed.

"Yeah?" James asked as he turned around to look at his girlfriend.

"I wanted to ask you a favour." Bridge replied.

"Anything. I owe you that much for having mistreated you." James smiled.

"Could you try and find if there are any Huntsclan files on a Rose Killdragonosa?"

James gave her a look. "Sure, but why?"

"It's the name of the woman who gave birth to me." Bridge spat.

"Oh. Why the Huntsclan files? Wouldn't you want to search on the Yellow Pages or something like that?"

"Because, she's part of the Huntsclan apparently."

Now James was shocked. "Bridge, are you telling me there is a woman in the Huntsclan, who doesn't hate dragons?"

"I don't know! I just don't know. Could you just look?"

"Sure. Can you just write it out?"

Bridge did that and gave the paper to James. "Thanks."

"I'll see what I can do." James kissed her as he left.

==In the House.

Jake was pacing back and forth, wondering how Bridge got to the Huntsclan. From what Rose had told him, some idiots were responsible for her capture. If they weren't getting punished by the Huntress, Jake would break in to the Huntsclan himself and murder them. For once, even Violet agreed with him.

"We can hope she- did you hear that?" Violet might be hostile towards her brother in law, but if Bridge was in the equation, then she would forgo that for her niece. She was in here her Kate persona now, she had also gone off to help with the search, but was now waiting for more news, as it was revealed that some Huntsidiots had captured her, but she had somehow impossibly escaped.

They went upstairs and just then, Bridge came out of her room, looking like she had been through a bit, she and her clothes were in a sorry state, with a dark red stain covering her lower left torso, but at least she was in one piece.

"Bridge!" The two adults exclaimed. They promptly went and hugged her. "Are you alright honey?" Kate asked, while Jake went to make a phone call.

==Huntsclan

"Psychotic Maniacs, what?" Huntress growled, using a fake company as always. "Listen, I'm not in the mood, and unless you want to really regret this, you better have a good damn reason to have made this fucking call."

"Relax, I promise it'll be worth your while. Bridge came back. You can lower your lasers, you're burning a hole in my wall." Jake's voice said from the other end, appearing more amused than anything.

"Charming as always. I'll be there in a flash. Who's with Bridge right now?" Rose asked, silently communicating to Haley to let everyone off the search and to make so wild story about how she got away. She then got changed and went to go get her staff and teleport.

"Kate is." Jake replied, his disdain clear.

"I'm teleporting now to Central Park. I'm still going to take a while because I'll walk there as to not seem suspicious. Just tell Bridge I went looking for her." Rose replied, hanging up.

==Long Household.

"Bridge, I just spoke with Jen, so she's coming back here." Jake stated as he went back to the living room, where Kate was sitting with Bridge.

"Where was she?" Bridge asked, wondering what the designer could have been doing at this time of night.

"She was helping to search for you." Kate replied. "I had also been helping earlier, but I came back to see if you had returned."

"Oh. I guess." Bridge shrugged.

"Anyway, I'll be getting back home. Hang in there Bridge, ok?" Kate said, hugging the girl.

"Yeah, sure." Bridge replied, seeming uninterested by the older woman's affections.

Kate let Bridge go, and glared at Jake, sending him a message of _'don't screw up again'_ She then left, leaving the two Longs in an awkward silence. Jake didn't want to start speaking in case Bridge got pissed off again, but was just itching to ask how she got out of the Huntsclan's clutches.

Bridge was just staring at the wall, not wanting to meet her father's gaze. If her father found out that James was Huntsclan, he would murder the poor boy. Though it would be hypocritical of him, sometimes parents didn't listen to reason when it came to those kinds of comparisons.

Just then, Jen walked in. She saw Bridge, and rushed over to the girl, and hugged her like her life depended on it.

"Need-air!" Bridge gasped sarcastically.

"Sorry." Jen apologized, loosening the grip on her daughter.

"Bridge, what happened?" Jake asked, going to sit beside his wife and daughter.

"I-" Bridge was going to make up a wild story, a half truth, and hope that no one would be the wiser to contradict it. "I was out flying until I was tackled by some Huntsidiots. I woke up, and saw I was in a classroom, and I noticed a knife close by, and using my tail, slashed the ropes open, and made my way out, keeping myself to the shadows. And with luck too, the Huntress came in some seconds after I left."

"And those scratches and everything?" Jake asked, trying to make sense of it all.

"Just my bad attempts at cutting the rope." Bridge grinned sheepishly, it was actually from the crash to the ground when she was first knocked out. The only thing Bridge truly didn't know was where the rest of the blood on her torso came from.

Jake seemed convinced, mainly because from his point of view, it would make sense. Jen however, wasn't convinced at all with the story. She knew there was no knife at the classroom, and she saw the disappearing beam of someone teleporting away the second after she walked in. She could guess who it could be that had helped her, but it would mean that they knew about each other. "Anyway," Jen said, getting back to the present "how about we just go to sleep. I think we've all had enough adventure for the day. Sounds good?"

"Yeah, I'm drained." Bridge replied, yawning to prove her point.

"Come on, I'll help you wash your wounds." Jen said, going up with Bridge to help her.

They went to the bathroom, and Jen took out a towel, and moistened it. "Come on, raise your shirt a bit, that way I can wash all that blood."

"Yeah, my tail-eye coordination skills are in need of practice." Bridge grimaced as all the blood was washed away.

Jen washed away the blood, trying to be as gentle as possible. However, there was a set of lines that just wouldn't go away. Then, Jen got a look at what exactly she was trying to rub off, and paled.

"Jen? What's wrong? Are you queasy with all that blood? What's- Ah!"

* * *

**What? I cut it off? Yes I did! Cliffhanger! **

**Argh, so I had done this whole snippet, and it got deleted :/**

**Take two:**

_"Ah! What's happening to me?"_

_"We figured this sort of thing could happen, but it usually happens with little kids."_

_"Bridge, I have to talk to you about something."_

_"Are you serious!"_

_"Do you think she'll agree to it?"_

_"YES! Of course I will!"_

_"How about spring? I think that's a good time to do it."_

_"I'm really glad for the two of you."_

_"Thanks sweetheart."_

_"So what are you thinking of getting them?"_

_"I think I have an idea. It's corny, but they'll like it."_

_"Hey, so I found nothing of interest on her. Sorry."_

**That's coming soon in the next chapter! What do you think is going to happen? Please let me know! I really would LOVE to hear your theories! The first scene in this chapter was made because people suggested it, so don't be shy! I won't bite, and most certainly won't bash you for your idea, it might be really cool!**

**So please, leave me a review, and make my day!...This sounds like a VERY cheesy commercial tagline :/**

**Hezpeller**


	16. I Propose We Bring This Family Together

**Alright good morning happy people! Another update! I know I said I would update Spies first, but for some reason, this appealed to me more :P Don't worry, I'm not giving up on Spies, I'm just reached an impasse on whether I want to separate the story by couple, as I have been doing, or separate it by year...anyone want to put their input on what you want?**

**Yeah, so I had a snow day yesterday so I spent the whole day studying...and writing this chapter so yay! And it's not even that long :S**

**Anyway, I think there's either 2 or 3 more chapters left... and then Hidden Lives: Humans kicks off! Anyone else excited? [crickets run away, fearing for their lives]**

**A lone figure raises their hand "Oh vait! I am sooper exhited! I can't vait to see hov Long is tortured more!" [spelling is deliberate]**

**_...Go figure, Rotwood likes the story :/_**

**"PRINCIPAL PROFESSOR!"**

**_Get back int to the fic!_**

**"But Ey don't even appear een the chapter!" Rotwood pouts.**

**_Then take up knitting!_**

**Rotwood sulks away, going off to ask his mother what knitting is.**

**Anywho, yeah this is the chapter! Please review! I would beg, but it would appear no differently to you guys, you'd just see words :P**

**Onej6: I can, and I will :P Thanks! Glad you like it! As for what happens next, read on below! Hope you enjoy the chapter! Teachers? Hmm, poor teachers...they have to deal with cranky teens every day. Sounds like a ticket to the loony bin :P [no offense to real teachers out there :P]**

**Blueser Dragon: Wow... I didn't even think it was that much of a pivotal chapter to change what you were going to say, but no matter :) Worry not, by the time this fic is done, none of your questions will be answered, and you'll be even more confused than before ;) Well, it's updated, so wait no more :) Yeah, now she knows that maybe, the Huntsclan isn't that evil...or is it? Thanks! Glad you think so! Jen Phillips? Hmm, well, there will be some revelations by the end of this specific fic, and that's not too far away, so the anticipation builds! Enjoy the chapter!**

**Luiz4200: Hmm, sorry, no molting cycle in this universe...hadn't even considered it actually, but it wouldn't fit with what I want to do :P About Bridge and James, they'll want to keep it as secret as they want, you see, they know that Jake, and even Jen, are quite ferocious in protecting Bridge, and so, they are under the impression that if they tell Jen and Jake about James being in the Huntsclan [man I use too many names with a J :P] they would go berserk :P But thanks nonetheless for your ideas, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**GG: Congrats, you are correct! Due to the mixing of the genes, her Huntsclan side is more dormant, and hasn't appeared till now. The mark just appeared on her...it wasn't there before. Well, yeah, she can be a dragon with the mark of the Huntsclan... but that doesn't mean she will necessarily join the Huntsclan, it's just going to be something I'll use for the very end of the next fic... so yeah, I gave away a little bit :P**

**Oh yeah, you can read the comments that I reply to people...you never know if I give something away, which perks up your curiosity even more ;) Enjoy!**

* * *

In Bridge's left side of her lower torso, there was a reptilian form that looked like a...

"It's a dragon!" Jen exclaimed.

"Ah! What's happening to me?" Bridge was petrified. She knew she had Huntsclan blood in her, but no one mentioned anything about having their disgusting mark!

Jen went downstairs to tell Jake what had happened, because Bridge was too petrified to move. Jake came upstairs and checked out the mark.

"We figured this sort of thing could happen, but it usually happens with little kids." Jake sighed, as Bridge lowered the rest of her shirt back down. "Don't worry, it's just a birthmark, there's no crazy mutation or anything like that." Jake joked, trying to alleviate the tension.

Bridge was too shocked and petrified to even say anything. Jen just went and hugged her, not knowing what else to do, trying to calm Bridge down, and was silently cursing herself with having the mark and passing it down to her child. Bridge eventually calmed down, and Jen took Bridge to her room and laid her down on the bed.

"What's going to happen to me?" Bridge asked, sounding scared.

"Nothing's going to happen sweetheart, just treat it like a tattoo, it doesn't and won't affect your dragon powers at all, so you can relax."

"Ok, goodnight Jen." Bridge mumbled, drifting to sleep.

"Goodnight sweetheart." Jen whispered, kissing her daughter's forehead and leaving. Bridge was so exhausted, she never realized that Jen had no real reason about being so in-depth on the effects of the mark.

==The next morning

Jake went into his daughter's room, taking a deep breath. He was going to have asked Bridge this yesterday night, but felt that it would have been too much after all they'd been through.

"Wake up Bridge, I have to talk to you about something." Jake said, as he sat down on her bed, trying to figure out from the tangled mess, what part he could sit down without sitting on Bridge's leg or something.

"Hmm... morning dad, what's up? Then yesterday came flooding back to her. She looked at her lower torso, and seeing the dragon form, she grimaced. "Does it have to do with this?"

"No honey. I, argh, how do I phrase this. How would, how would you feel if, erm, if Jen-" Here Jake faltered. "If Jen and I, you know-"

"No I don't know dad, so please explain to me before I die of anticipation." Bridge drawled, scoffing.

"Well, how would you feel if I asked Jen to...marry me?" Jake sighed, preparing for the exclamations of disbelief.

"Are you serious!" Bridge yelped.

"I get if you don't like it-" Jake started

"Dad, go for it, you two are so happy with each other, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Do you think she'll agree to it?" Bridge said, smiling. But the one who was happier, radiating actually, was Jake.

"I think she'll be ecstatic." Jake wanted this to be a surprise, not even Rose knew about it yet, even though they were supposed to be planning this together. He wanted to surprise her, to calm her down after yesterday's eventful happenings.

"Cool, when are you going to propose?"

"Hmm, I don't know, not now because she's busy now and I don't want to interrupt her. I'll probably do it tonight. But right now, you have to get to school."

"Aww Man!"

==Clark's Home

"Sir, what are you planning on doing?" Clark asked his now roommate of one month.

Peter, for his part, had spent this time to regain his strength, and to attempt to get his body not so mangled. He had a bad limp, and scratches all over his body that forced him to wear long sleeved clothing, and a hood to hide his beaten up face. Some things were healing, but others were permanent. If he ever got his hand on those bitches, they would get 10 times worse than he had, and then some.

"I'm just regaining my strength. Then I am planning on gathering an army, and bring hell to everyone that fucked me up." If there was one word to describe Peter Avezon right now, it would be psychotic. He had been doing some shady dealings, but now, even Clark was beginning to have second thoughts about releasing the crazy man.

==That night

"Jen, we have known each other for a while now, and I have thought it over for a while and was wondering if-" Jake started, his resolve fading when he looked into Jen's eyes. Even though he was actually married to the woman in front of him, he saw that she looked, apprehensive, maybe even scared, at what he was about to say.

Bridge, who was eavesdropping, chalked it up to her dad having the butterflies, and silently smacked herself on the head. It seems like Bridge got distracted for awhile, because next thing she heard was:

"YES! Of course I will!"

Bridge inched closer to the stairs to see what was going on, and a smile crept to her face when she saw her dad being engulfed by Jen hugging him, so much that he tripped and they fell on the sofa, laughing.

Bridge silently giggled, but stopped when she saw that Jen heard it and the latter turned her head to look at the girl. Bridge shied away, but then saw that Jen was beckoning her over.

"Come on Bridge! Come down here." Jen coerced.

Bridge went downstairs to the living room, and got herself squished by Jen hugging the life out of her.

"I would enjoy being able to attend you wedding!" Bridge gasped, letting Jen know that she was suffocating her.

"I'm sorry honey, I'm just so happy!" Jen replied as she loosened her hold on Bridge, but still hugging her. Jen was radiating as much as Jake was, it was almost like a competition to see who was happier.

"When do you want the wedding?" Jake asked, grinning.

"How about spring? I think that's a good time to do it." Jen replied, wanting to do it when Bridge wouldn't be so busy and could participate.

"I'm really glad for the two of you." Bridge said, hugging Jen.

"Thank you so much sweetheart." Jen could cry in happiness now, she totally would, but wanted to maintain her resolve.

==The next day

"So what are you thinking of getting them?" Art asked Bridge, talking about the wedding gifts they were going to get Bridge's parents.

"I think I have an idea. It's corny, but they'll like it." Bridge replied, not really giving away what it was.

"Come on! Aren't you at least going to give us a hint?" Fitz exclaimed.

"No...I don't know, I might change my mind, but I think that that would be the best gift for them." Bridge blushed.

"Girl, you are some kind of strange!" Art replied, shaking her head.

James approached the trio, and Bridge silently reprimanded herself for forgetting to mention to her friends about who James really was yesterday. He had been absent yesterday, and so she hadn't gotten a chance to ask him about the woman.

"Hey, Bridge, how're you? So I found nothing of interest on her. Sorry about that. It seems like her file hasn't been updated in more than 22 years. It's like she left then, leaving no trace." James said, and after he was done, he kissed her.

Fitz and Art were just staring speechless. "Right." Bridge said, turning to her friends. "James is part of that organization, and he himself was the guy trying to you know..." Bridge mimicked the sweeping hand motion on her left ear. She was saying this in a general manner, in case anyone was overhearing them.

"He knows?" Fitz and Art exclaimed at about the same time James yelped "they know?"

"Yes, all 3 of you are relatively up to speed. I asked James to see if he could find anything out about her, from the inside, but as you heard, there's been nothing. But wait, that means she left before I was born. So dad was lying? Argh! This just pisses me off-"

"Bridge, I know I'm going to sound terribly corny and whatnot, but you've got to let it go! You'll go insane if you keep obsessing over this! Please, just let it go!" Fitz pleaded to his friend.

"Yeah, if she doesn't want to find you, then she has no reason to be taking up your time!" Art agreed.

"Yeah Bridge, I know you want revenge, but this isn't worth it." James conceded.

"You guys are right...I spent the last month neglecting all of you because I was trying to figure all of this out. I'm just going to put this in the past, and just help my dad and Jen with their wedding." Bridge smiled, happy with her friends and thankful for them being there and getting her out of this pool of confusion before she drowned in it.

* * *

**Yes Jen and Jake are getting married! How many people saw that? [once again, not even the crickets chirp...or even Rotwood.]**

**Can you say drama? Anyway, just to show I haven't forgotten about Clark and Peter, I added that snippet above for them :P**

**So yeah, I'm thinking the chapter breakdown will probably be: the wedding, followed by the aftermath, and then the last chapter/ epilogue, where I will introduce a new character joining in the mix ;)!**

**[ANOTHER ONE! everyone bellows] Yep, that's right :) Just to give a name to the face, her name is Cassie Bluemore...it's a new character, so you're not going to find her mentioned before hand :P**

**I'll probably take my leave before someone chucks something at me to reveal more :D**

**Oh right! snippet! Hmm, I don't think I will just because it will give _everything_ away :P**

**Please review, no account needed whatsoever!**

**Hezpeller**


	17. Trolls, Dragons and a Whole Lot of Yarn

**And things just keep on coming! So I'm publishing this one today since I'm going to be out all of tomorrow and wanted to post this up today. Contrary to what I had originally planned, this isn't the wedding, rather, just a comical scene to lighten the mood before the next chapter, which I can guarantee will be...the one. It will be the second last chapter, so you can guess what's going to happen in the next chapter! If you really can't guess, you haven't been paying attention to my notes or have neglected to read them. Either way, start preparing yourselves, since next chapter will be, hopefully, awesome! :P**

**Anywho, enough tootting of my own horn :P**

**BTW: If anyone is interested in using my characters/ base of story for something of their own inspiration, you are MORE than welcome to do so AS LONG AS: you please let me know! You don't need to run it through me, just make sure you put some kind of note, so that I know :D**

**Wolvmbm: Yep, she has the mark of the Huntsclan, and as it was mentioned by Jen I think it was, it won't mess her powers up in any way whatsoever :) Hehe, you can pretty much bet on it :P That will be next chapter, so hang on for that one :S Erm, I don't quite understand what you mean with "I'm still weary on Jake knowing that Bridge is a dragon and is willing to help her out this soon" Could you clarify that for me a bit...it's a teensy bit confusing, since Jake knew Bridge was a dragon since she was born...wait, do you mean James? Oh, well, I guess it may have been a bit rushed by the way the chapters pan out, but in reality, they have been fighting for more than a month, which is around or so the same time we have for Jake and Rose to have built a solid relationship and trust in one another in the show...or so it looked like to me, but if you want, you can make your own version if you want :) Thanks! Glad you like it, and I hope you like this chapter!**

**Luiz4200: Oh yes, you'll see why later on below :P Hmm, maybe, maybe not, we'll see if the last part of the chapter clarifies that, or not. ;) Anywho, enjoy the chapter!**

**Onej6: Thanks! Glad you like it! Oh yes, shocker of her life coming up, next chapter! :) Enjoy this one, while you wait, for your next order to come out :P**

**BlueserDragon: Thanks, I'm glad you found it interesting! The rest of the world can't wait either, but you'll have to make do :P Yeah, that was a bit of not so great suspense there, but it was worth a try. Thanks once again! And here is the chapter! Hope you enjoy it!**

**And another thing: I was re-reading Protectors, and found many mistakes, and I have been meaning to correct them. Ergo: Soon enough, I will be correcting some things that seem to be wrong to me, including my little author's notes that everyone [dispised] but worry not, the plot will remain the same, and I will be letting you guys know which chapters have been upgraded. The first chapters should be changed by midnight or so of today, not tuesday :)**

**Evryone else: Enjoy! And please review! I know you can! even if you just want to put your name down as A, that's fine by me!**

* * *

And so, it was that Jen and Jake would be married, and hopefully become a family with Bridge, eventually telling the whole truth to their daughter. But fate has other things in mind for this family, and there is no way to protect yourself from what you don't know is coming. The Long family were all super excited to get the wedding underway, and time flew by, December became May before long, and the wedding was in one day.

==Long Household

"Bridge, wake up sweetheart, you need to get to class." Jen said, in a singsong voice to her daughter, who was buried somewhere in her bed.

"Ughsfm, get the troll from last night to go to class. At least Mrs. Norman would have an equal to talk to." Bridge grumbled.

"I'm sure Mrs. Norman isn't that bad." Jen coerced, silently giggling at what her daughter was calling her own aunt.

"No...she's worse." Bridge muttered. "A troll would be a perfectly civilized gentleman compared to her."

"I don't care if she's the Huntress herself, you need to get to class." Jake chuckled from where he was standing in the doorway.

"Ok, you've got a point there. She would probably be the Huntsgirl or Huntswoman, not that monster." Bridge protested. Jen had to do her best to not burst out laughing at the coincidence.

"Why exactly is she so bad? When I went to talk to her, she seemed pretty nice." Jake asked, curious to know what qualm Bridge had with her aunt.

"I- It's nothing, she just always pokes fun at me, and even though I know she's just joking, and that she has helped me from Morton, it still pisses me off." Bridge mumbled.

"Don't worry Bridge, she's probably just trying to see if she can liven your day up. You always look dead in the morning." Jen explained, hugging her daughter.

"Come on Bridge, just get going? That way you can at least reach class? You also don't have to go to training today because Kate will be helping us with the finished touches of the wedding." Jake explained.

"Awesome!" Bridge got a burst of energy just hearing that. She sped off to the bathroom to change while Jen and Jake, like any other couple deep in love and feeling on top of the world, kissed. It seems they stayed that way for a while because next thing they knew, Bridge exclaimed, disgusted "Come on you guys! Can't you hold it in until after I left...or at least kiss in your own room! That's why we are living in a household with two bedrooms, not one!" Bridge was playfully reprimanding them.

"Fine then, you want to be controlling with us, we'll start controlling how many times you and James kiss." Jen smirked, turning this into a big hypothetical argument.

"Say What? What does one thing have to do with the other?" Bridge exclaimed.

"It just does. Now get going to class, or else we're going to get Kate to train while we're planning for the wedding." Jen smirked, finalizing the so-called argument.

Bridge grumbled and left, leaving the two happy adults to continue kissing right where they left off, though in their own room. However, Rose had some unfinished business to attend to, and quickly left.

==At School

Mrs. Norman was in her office, preparing her lesson plan for the day, wondering what sort of idiotic questions she would be getting from some students. Suddenly, a figure dropped in, locking the door as she made her way to the teacher's desk.

"May I help you?" Haley smirked, wondering if Rose was trying to make herself intimidating by coming as Huntress. Then again, if she came as Jen, she wouldn't be able to make it to her office in one piece.

"Yes you can. What's going on with Bridge? She says you poke fun at her." Huntress stated, showing her face to her friend, not angry, but merely curious.

"What do you mean? The sarcastic remarks I use? I didn't know it bothered her that much. I was just trying to get her more hyped up, she's like Jake, won't stay awake for more than 10 minutes if things aren't interesting to her." Haley replied, smirking more widely.

"She called you worse than a troll, but worry not, she still considers you kinder than the Huntress, but good enough to be Huntsgirl."

"I'm flattered. But sure, I just always did it because hey, she's my niece. But maybe I went too far in it. How's the wedding going?" Haley asked, curious to know what was going on with her friend.

"Hectic. You sure you don't want to come?" Rose asked.

"And say what to Bridge? Hey, I'm your teacher but guess what? I'm also your aunt!" Haley replied sarcastically.

"You could just dress up?" Rose offered, not sounding overly convinced about it herself.

Haley just raised her eyebrow. "Really, and then what, beg Jake to not start throwing a tantrum? Please, don't worry about it. It's better that Bridgette just enjoys this. After the truth sinks in, then we can add more family members."

"Alright Haley, if you insist. Just take it easy on Bridge ok?" Rose said, getting ready to go out again.

"Oh don't worry Huntress, Bridge will have a memorable class. I'm just going to make her day today, and then after that I'm done. Unless she enjoys class so much today, she won't want me to stop"

"Why? What's today's topic?"

==In Mythology

"Ms. Long! You should try out for our track team, you would be stellar." Mrs. Norman smirked as she saw her niece tumble into the room, panting from all that she must have run.

"Anyway, before Ms. Long interrupted us, we were going to talk about dragons. Now, Ms. Long, since you've come in late, please tell us what you know about dragons."

"Erm, they have scales? And erm, claws? Not to mention they can breathe fire, and fly." Bridge answered sheepishly as she took her seat at the back of the class.

"Good to know you have kept up with your Saturday morning cartoons Ms. Long. Ms. Morton, since you're giggling and acting all superior, I'm guessing you know more. Care to share?" Mrs. Norman asked, turning to the girl in question.

"Please, dragons aren't real. Therefore, you can't know how they look like. Everyone knows that." Amy scoffed.

"Well, Ms. Morton, unfortunately we're not in a contemporary world issues class, which deals with hard facts, cold numbers and the solid truth, but in a mythology class, and ergo, that means that non-existent and magical creatures, do look like something, and unless you think you know better than your peers, you'll keep your mouth shut, and your giggles to yourself." Mrs. Norman replied, smirking sardonically.

Amy was stupefied and speechless, not to mention pissed off, making Bridge's day today, as Haley had predicted.

Suddenly, a bundle of mauve yarn, the size of a human figure, walked into the room. "Mrs. Norman, culd yu pleese, undo this vyarn? It ees beginning to beite een mein nether reegions."

Mrs. Norman looked at the class, stifling a bout of laughter herself as she helped to unwind the yarn from the man. "There you go Mr.-"

"PRINCIPAL PROFESSOR!" The man clarified, straightening his monocle, as he left the room with an air of the indignant.

"Who was the genius who showed him how to knit? His mother?" Mrs. Norman scoffed, getting the whole class to laugh with her.

"Vies! I vas mein mother!" The yell came from down the hallway.

==After class

Bridge quickly made her way back home, where she helped Jen and Kate with the final touches of the wedding planning. Jake was off at his restaurant, preparing the food for the wedding.

Long into the night they were finally finished with the planning, and they all went to bed, happy with what was to come tomorrow, bursting out of their seams in excitement.

==In another part of town

Peter Avezon was quietly waiting for his contact to show up, and although he hated doing business with those kinds of beings, he was more interested in the outcome, rather than the methods.

Suddenly, a rustling was heard, and a creature appeared. "You request our services?" A raspy voice asked him, not even bothering with formalities, getting straight to the point.

"Yes, I do. This is your target." Avezon handed the creature a photograph that he took while out snooping a few nights ago. "Make sure you do your best, or rather your worst on her. She is the key to the success of my plan, and I don't want any mess-ups, understood?"

"Clearly. You have our guarantee, she will never again be a bother to you. You may continue with your plan, since you can consider this obstacle removed, permanently."

* * *

**Permanently, that sounds like an omnious word, doesn't it? Whoever the target is, they've got a doomed future ahead of them.**

**Hmm, I wonder who the target is? Actually, I don't! I know!**

**Anywho, next chapter, will be the wedding ,and most probably the aftermath, depending on how big I make both the scenes :P**

**But since I want to torture you guys further here's a snippet:**

_"Morning you two!"_

_"Come on, let's get you ready."_

_"Bridgette, thanks for giving me a chance to be part of this family."_

_"You may now kiss the bride."_

_"Quite the party right?"_

_"I'll give you guys your gift afterwards, if you guys don't mind."_

_"So, I just want to say thanks dad...and-mom"_

_"Be back!"_

_"Jake we can't keep lying like this to her!"_

_"What's different now?"_

_"What was that creak?"_

_"You don't give a damn about me!"_

_"Bridge I care about you, will always care about you, and have always cared about you- since you were born."_

_"YOU! All this time! And- and argh! I'm going out!"_

_"Bridge! Just please come back ok, we aren't finished talking."_

_"I'll come back. I promise."_

_"American Dragon, we have need of your services!"_

_"Ugh."_

**Ohh, what's going to happen? Well, you guys know pretty much what happens, but not the details ;) So stay tuned, and I will be upgrading Hidden Lives: Protectors soon enough, as many chapters as I can!**

**Enjoy, and please sound off using the button below!**

**Hezpeller**


	18. Eavesdroppers Are the Real Danger

**And here is the chapter you have all been waiting for! Hopefully I did it justice :P So yeah! One more chapter, that's the epilogue/intro to get people ready for Humans!**

**Man, I got lots of reviews! No seriously, 6 reviews for one chapter for me is a record :P**

**Wolvmbm: Hey no prob! We all make mistakes, so no need to apologize! He knows about it...he found out in the prvious story...near the end. In the 16th chapter :D and it's mentioned again in the 5th chapter in this , that is for another story...literally :P Thanks! And for the wedding...well, I'll leave it for you to judge it. ;) Enjoy the chapter!**

**Buddyboy98: Space race, psh, that's nothing...and intergalactic space race, sure :D Thanks! Glad you like it! Enjoy this chapter!**

**BlueserDragon: Thanks! Yeah, it releases the tension in this chapter...supposedly :P Oh yes cliffhanger, and again here! haha! Wait no more, for the next chapter is here! Enjoy this update!**

**Luiz4200: That would be a scene to say the least...but that's not quite what happens, ach, just read it and you'll see what I mean :P Hmm, no she won't know about it before hand, but I'll let you read and find out :) Enjoy the chapter!**

**Onej6: Thanks! Nah, I think I'll go just a bit more :P Just for the heck of it :S Well, you can now read it! yep, the torture of waiting :P Enjoy the chapter!**

**Sedweel: haha, well to some it might not be obvious so it's not such a 'duh' moment :D I did keep writing and this chapter was the result! Enjoy it!**

* * *

==The Day of the Wedding

Bridge woke up by herself, incredibly enough, and rushed over to Jen and Jake's bedroom, where she jumped on the bed, waking them up.

"Morning you two!" Bridge exclaimed excitedly.

"Bridge? Wow, I should get married more often if this is how you react." Jake sleepily noted.

"Dad! Come on! You're going to tell me you're not excited?" Bridge answered exasperated.

"I am excited! But don't enjoy the feeling of waking up as if a bomb just went off." Jake complained.

"Someone's grouchy." Jen smirked, sitting up.

"I'm not grouchy! You going to tell me you didn't jump to the roof when she jumped here!" Jake cried out.

"Well Jake, that would be the basis of physics. One goes down, the others go up." Jen replied, as though she were speaking to a child.

Jake groaned "You know what I mean."

Jen giggled, winking at Jake and motioning to Bridge who was bursting out laughing.

"Come here you!" Jen happily yelled, grabbing Bridge and taking her closer to the couple, and tickling her, along with Jake, who also joined in, laughing.

"Stop it! Knock it off!" Bridge was crying with the tears of laughter as she squirmed to get out of the tickle torture her parents were putting her through.

Jen laughed as she stopped and hugged Bridge. Jake enveloped his arms around the two of them, making them look like a happy family, the happiest in the world.

"Come on, let's get you ready." Jen told Bridge, knowing they had to get ready.

==Some hours later

After getting everyone else ready, they went to the church, where Jen would get ready, and the ceremony would start. When Kate and Trixie were done, it was just mother and daughter alone waiting.

"Bridgette, thanks for giving me a chance to be part of this family." Jen said, breaking the silence

"Hey, don't worry about it! It's kind of nice to have someone else at home. I should be saying thanks to you for putting up with me! With my mood swings, I'm surprised you didn't ditch my dad and say good riddance-"

"Sweetheart, I would never do that!" Jen exclaimed, hugging the girl before she finished her sentence, letting her know it was alright.

They then broke apart and made their way to the main chamber. After everyone sat down the droning voice started: "Dearly beloved.."

And they went on for a while, in which everyone was paying attention but not really. Then came the part everyone was waiting for. "You may now kiss the bride."

Jake and Jen did just that, making it official that they were going to be together...again.

==At the party

"Quite the party right?" Fitz said, going up to talk to Art and Bridge.

"Yeah, they sure planned this perfectly." Art smiled. "So Miss Mysterious, what did you get them?"

"I can't tell you. It's a secret." Bridge replied, vague as always.

"Fine, don't tell us." Fitz grumbled. "Where's James? Didn't invite him?"

"Nah, I'm right here." James smiled, coming up to them.

"James!" Bridge squealed, running over to her boyfriend. They hugged and kissed, making Art and Fitz gag, but the adults smiled in what they believed was a knowing manner, however, none of them knew that the two lovers knew all about each other.

"Alright guys! Time to open the gifts!" Trixie hollered, getting everyone's attention.

They opened their gifts, most of them being appliances, some of them money, the usual...except no baby stuff.

At the end, Bridge made her way to them and said, "I'll give you guys your gift afterwards, if you guys don't mind."

"No problem at all sweetheart! We're just glad you're happy! You really don't need to give us gift" Jen said, waving it off.

"I know, it's just something I want to do." Bridge grinned.

"Ok honey, don't worry about it." Jake said, smiling at Bridge.

The party continued, with dancing and singing, even Art and Fitz danced together, though they both acted like they weren't enjoying it, they really were feeling something for each other. James and Bridge were dancing as much as Jake and Jen were.

==Many hours later

The party was finally over, and the Longs were tired to say the least. They entered their house and sat down on the sofa, catching their breaths.

"So about your gift. I didn't actually get you guys anything, it's just a thank you." Bridge took a deep breath, getting herself ready to finish this. She went over to where Jake and Jen were sitting and hugged them, "So, I just want to say thanks dad...and-mom"

Jen's eyes popped out of their sockets at the last word. "What, what did you call me?"

Jen just wanted to make sure she heard correctly but Bridge took it the wrong way and thought she said something wrong. "I mean, I don't know, I thought that you might like-"

"Bridge was interrupted by being engulfed in a hug. "Sweetheart, I'm not reproaching you, I just wanted to make sure you had really just called me mom. You really consider me to be your mother?"

"Yeah, I- well, it's just that, you're the closest thing I've ever had for a mom, and you put up with me, and been nothing but kind to me and you helped me out. So yeah, thanks mom.." Bridge replied " But now I promised Fu I would do patrol tonight , so I need to go. Be back!"

Bridge went out, leaving the two adults to just think about what had just happened.

==Some minutes later

"Hey Fu! Oh, later on? Sure I'll come back later. Bye!" Bridge hung up her cell, and flew straight back home, to enjoy being with her parents, yes both parents again.

Bridge entered through her room, and opened her door into the hallway but froze when she heard Jen's voice say "Jake we can't keep lying like this to her!"

Bridge was dumbfounded. They were lying to her? About what? Bridge quietly and slowly inched closer to the staircase and eavesdropped.

"What's different now?" Jake replied, annoyed. "You were fine with waiting before? What if it's too soon now"

"Jake, she called me mom! She thinks I'm her mom! Once she finds out about the truth, she'll truly be convinced that I don't give a damn about her, and that everything was a lie!"

Bridge was scared, she had trusted in Jen, and now she was confused. She made an effort to move, but the floor creaked. Bridge sucked her breath in, waiting, hoping her dad and Jen hadn't heard it.

"What was that creak?" Jen asked, sounding scared.

With Bridge's cover blown, she tried to rush back to her room, but was caught in an embrace by Jen.

Bridge struggled in vain to escape from Jen's grip, "Leave me alone! You don't give a damn about me!"

Bridge was carried back to the living room downstairs, all the time being held closely to Jen.

"Bridge, you misunderstood-"Jen tried to soothe Bridge, but got cut off.

"I heard everything loud and clear! You have been lying to me all this time, and like I thought, you were just using me! But you tried to convince me that you truly cared for me, and like a fool I believed you!" Bridge then turned to her father. 'How could you have let her do this dad! Don't you care? I told you that mothers are terrible, but you wouldn't believe me, you thought that it was just one bad experience!"

Before Bridge could continue, Jen said in a forceful voice, "Bridge, I care about you a lot, will always care about you, and have always cared about you- since you were born."

Then, in Bridge's mind, everything cleared. How could the woman care about her since she was born, unless..."YOU! All this time! It was you! You think you can come waltzing back in to our lives after 13 years you bloody murderer! Some fancy alter-ego created with plastic surgery won't get you anywhere!"

Jen just removed her bracelet, transforming her into the woman Bridge hated, not even bothering to defend herself.

How could you! And- and argh! I'm going out!" Bridge stormed off, getting ready to fly off.

"Bridge! Just please come back ok, we aren't finished talking." Jake said, begging to Bridge.

Bridge looked back at them, and although she was mad, she would listen to them, for they were still her parents. She wouldn't stop hating them, but wanted to know what sob story they would come up with to defend themselves. "I'll come back. _I promise_."

Bridge flew off, not knowing of the terrible misfortune that was going to tear them apart for a long time.

==Central Park

Bridge was angrily flying around, until she spotted a creature waving frantically, trying to get her attention.

"American Dragon, we have need of your services!" The creature said. "Our forest is under attack!"

"Ok, where is it?" Bridge asked, desperate to take her anger out on something.

"I'll take you there, but it's better if we fly. However, I have no wings." The creature replied, bashful.

"Climb up." Bridge replied, getting on all fours. Once the creature got on, they sped off to the south, heading far away from the city.

"There! Down by that forest!" The creature pointed.

Bridge angled downwards. As soon as she started to enter the forest, she felt something heavy collide with her head.

"Ugh!" Bridge groaned as she was knocked out and was fastly losing altitude, getting hit by thick and sharp branches. She then crashed with quite the impact.

"Success." One of the creatures surrounding the dragon said, smirking evilly.

* * *

**If your mouth is wide open in shock, then my purpose is fulfilled, if not, re-read the chapter and make sure you understand what's going on :D**

**So yeah! Bridge finally finds out, and guess what, she's pissed! Go figure :S And not only that, but it seems she has been tricked! Bummer for her. Unfortunately for you guys the readers, you won't find out what happens to Bridge until the end of the next story! Please don't throw anything at me! [shaking in fear :P]**

**Yeah, next story focuses more on Cassie, who'll be introduced next chapter!**

**So get ready for that one, and while you wait for the next installment: PLEASE review, make me happy, and wonder what will happen next!**

**No snippet, it'll give everything away...but I will tell you guys this, Humans starts off 3 years later [suspenseful music]**

**Hezpeller**


	19. Dead Parents Equals Avenging Teenager

**Whoot! Last Chapter!But not end of the series! I've been neglecting the upgrades on Protectors, but haven't forgotten them! I'll get to that right away. :P**

**So on behalf of me..and the knitting Rotwood [PRINCIPAL PROFESSOR!] thank you to all of you readers that have reviewed/faved/put the story on your alerts!**

**As a side note, I'm planning a new story [another one?] yes another one, however, not related to ADJL, so yeah, I really like juggling things don't I? :P It's to do with the new show, Young Justice, that I'm totally obsessed wth right now :S**

**Anywho, that aside, I won't keep you guys waiting much longer!**

**Wolvmbm: Yep, she's truly pissed off, and within grounds to be that way. Hmm, we'll find out next story won't we? Nope, they don't have the foggiest idea that she was captured. They only find out when she doesn't return after a day...the details will be explained in the next story. A miracle would be nice wouldn't it? But alas, it's not to be. I will continue to do my best, thanks! I hope you enjoy the end of Dragons!**

**Onej6: Yep, they do, unfortunately. They will...you actually do know who is responsible...shady meeting between Avezon and some creature ring any bells? Yep, the creature is the same one who mutters "Success" at the end of the chapter :P So, in other words, Avezon [Peter Avezon I mean] is totally, 100% responsible. Thanks! I hope you enjoy the end of Dragons!**

**BlueserDragon: Thanks! Glad you liked it so much! Aww, you're making me blush :S Yes I am evil, :) 3 years without their daughter, but yeah, poor Rose, she's really got it bad :P It will definetly change Huntress, that's for sure. I will keep wirting! Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the end of Dragons!**

**Luiz4200: Nope, story hasn't finished, but Bridge and everyone else isn't going to be mentioned for a while. I have updated, and here it is! Thanks! I hope you enjoy the end of Dragons!**

**THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR STILL HANGING ON WITH THE STORY!**

**I truly hope you enjoy it, and don't hate me too much for what happens below [runs away, leaving only the professor knitting]**

* * *

==In Washington

Cassandra Bluemore was happy. She had just graduated middle school, and had been celebrating with her parents, who told her that they couldn't be prouder of their daughter. They were now returning home, and her dad had just begun to cross the abandoned intersection.

Suddenly, a speeding truck started to cross the intersection they were on, and the guy didn't look like he was going to stop. Cassandra's father panicked, and in order to save everyone, he quickly tried to speed up and get out of the way. However, he miscalculated the distance.

The first half of the car, with both of Cassandra's parents on it, was torn out, and a sickening crash was heard. By that time, poor Cassandra had already blacked out from the impact, so she was saved from seeing her parents killed right in front of her.

==Some hours later

"Her vitals seem to be normal, it was a miracle she was able to survive, that bastard really deserves to die. How could he not have seen them? I think he was drunk." Cassandra heard a voice complain as she slowly gained consciousness.

She tried to get up, but the woman saw her and pushed her back down. "Hello sweetie, and how're you feeling?"

The other woman in the room, the nurse, quickly left, leaving the doctor and patient to talk.

"Tired. What happened?" Cassandra asked, holding a hand to her head.

"Do you know your name?" The woman asked, taking it slowly.

"Yeah, my name is Cassandra Bluemore, but people call me Cassie."

"Ok, do you remember your parents' names?"

Cassie tried to think for a moment, trying to remember how her parents even looked like. "Sorry, I don't remember anything, not even how they might look like. Are you my mom?"

"No sweetie, I-your parents are dead. They died in the car crash because a stupid truck driver supposedly hadn't seen them. I'm truly sorry about this." The doctor said, not knowing how to make the girl feel better.

"I-I don't remember anything. I try to remember what happened but I just can't remember anything, the only thing I seem to remember is my name, and that's about it." Cassie said, shaking her head.

"You're suffering from amnesia. You might retain certain things, such as your name, and various things which might have an emotional value or something along those lines." The doctor explained.

"Oh, ok. So what do I have to do?" Cassie asked.

"Well, we have to find you a suitable orphanage to go to I'm afraid, at least until you're 18 and can sustain yourself." The doctor smiled.

"I can sustain myself!" Cassie replied, angrily.

"You're 13 years old Cassie, the government simply won't allow it!"

"Fine... " Cassie grumbled.

"Oh, one more thing, I have this bracelet, does it mean anything? It's just a stringed bracelet, nothing fancy so-" the doctor replied, holding up an inexpensive bracelet that looked like it withstood the tests of time.

"Yeah! It's the bracelet I gave my mom when I was a kid! She always wore it!" Cassie ecstatically replied, grabbing the bracelet from the doctor's hands and put it on, that bit of her memory returned to her. Cassie then asked, "Do I have any serious injuries?"

"Nope, you're lucky to have gotten off with scratches and bruises, it could have been a lot worse. I'm going to contact some orphanages, and I'll come back to visit you tomorrow, so go to sleep ok?"

'Ok, thanks." Cassie conceded, giving way to her sleep.

Throughout the week, orphanages had been coming in and interviewing the girl, but they were all scared off with the girl's lunatic plans to avenge her parents. Beatrice, the doctor, was getting exasperated. No one wanted to have an angry psychotic girl move into their quiet and orderly orphanages.

Then came a couple, in their 50s, wanting to take Cassie to their orphanage, but first wanting to interview her, same as all other orphanage owners. Beatrice was steeling herself for the running away and angry outbursts later on as she opened the door.

"Hey Cassie, you have some visitors! This here is Jack and Diana Evans, and they want to see if you're interested in going to their orphanage." Beatrice chirpily stated, even though she knew it was pretty much impossible to get anyone not freaked out after talking to Cassie for a couple of minutes.

"Sure." Cassie shrugged her shoulders dejectedly, as Beatrice left the three to converse.

"Hey Cassie, how're you?" Mr. Evans said, sitting down in a chair by the girl's bed.

"I'm grand." Cassie replied, using fake enthusiasm.

"Don't you want to get out of here? Go outside and play?" Mrs. Evans asked, sitting on the girl's bed. Diana looked at Cassie and noted the pale skin contrasting with the girl's long, dark brown hair and green eyes, and Diana felt bad for the poor child.

"Nah, I just want to kill that damn truck driver for killing my parents and for making me lose my memory. Then I'll think about playing." Cassie venomously spat, getting both adults to flinch.

"Well Cassie, we have an extensive extracurricular program, so maybe, you can make use of that anger, and channel it through something more productive, what do you think?" Mr. Evans replied, sounding excited.

"More productive than giving that bastard a taste of his own medicine? Please." Cassie scoffed.

"Give it a chance, please? I promise you'll love it." Mrs. Evans pleaded.

"I- ok, fine, I'll give it a chance." Cassie gave in, not for lack of trying, but just because she was tired of having to do these interviews.

==In Beatrice's office

"Come in!" Beatrice yelled, telling whoever knocked on the door to enter.

Beatrice's heart sank when she saw the Evans come inside.

"So?" Beatrice asked, hopeful.

"Yep, we'll take her! She's got spirit and she's determined, we just need to channel that into something more dynamic." Diana smiled.

They did the papers, and as soon as they were done, Cassie went with them, but not before thanking Beatrice verbally, no hugs or tears. Cassie wasn't an affectionate person, and despised if anyone hugged her. And she never cried, so being sentimental was not one of Cassie's fortes.

But Cassie was to start a new life, and during that, she hoped to be able to get her memory back, even if it was just to have the memories back.

==At the orphanage

"Well Cassie, this will be your room. Right now, you're going to be living by yourself, to give you your own space, but after one year, you're getting a roommate. We'll talk it over later on. Anyway, we wanted to talk to you first about our program. You see, we're not just your average orphanage. We have, a certain speciality." Diana said, after Cassie had sat down on her bed.

"Like what?" Cassie asked, sceptically, wondering if this was good or bad.

"Do you believe in magical creatures?" Diana asked.

Cassie was speechless. She was now convinced she had been brought to an asylum. "Um, no because they don't exist?"

"What if we told you they were real and existed?" Jack replied, silently signalling to some people outside the door. He moved out of the way to let the other guests come in.

Cassie was speechless. There was a leprechaun, a fairy, and a unicorn. They were certainly not fake, and Cassie was just entranced as she walked up to the creatures and caressed them.

"So, what do you guys do with them?" Cassie asked.

"They protect us." The leprechaun said.

"From who?" Cassie replied.

"The Huntsclan." The fairy whimpered.

"Who the hell is that?" Cassie wondered.

"They're a band of merciless murderers that have nothing better to do than to hunt and kill magical creatures for profit." Jack replied with disdain.

"Ouch," Cassie flinched, unaware of how evil some people could be.

"Aye, they have their base in New York City, where they're constantly buttin' heads with the American Dragon!" The leprechaun added.

"Yeah, their leader, the Huntress, is a menace! Just thinking about her makes me shiver!" The fairy said, shivering.

"So, you want me to help protect magical creatures?" Cassie asked, getting right to the point.

"Exactly, you will be trained here, go to school like all the other kids, and if at any time you want to leave, all you to do is tell us, and we'll put you up for adoption, sounds good?" Diana explained.

"Sure." Cassie said, she actually wasn't planning on leaving any time soon. This actually sounded interesting, and Cassie wanted to try her hand in this.

"Ok, so, how about we do a diagnostic on your skills?" Diana offered, taking the young girl to their training center.

"Cool, just be prepared for failure. I have no skills whatsoever." Cassie said, groaning.

"We'll see." Jeff shrugged.

They called forth a girl to spar with her. "Hey, I'm Emma, Em for short." The girl waved as she approached.

"Cassie." Cassie replied, not even bothering to introduce herself more.

"Get ready, and spar!" Jeff exclaimed.

'Wha-" Cassie hardly had time to finish her question before she felt herself being hit, and next thing she knew, she was staring at the ceiling. "Ouch!"

"It's ok, I'm just messing with you." Em smiled, offering her hand to her sparring partner.

Cassie ignored the hand and got up herself. "Let's try that again."

Many failures later, and at least half an hour had passed, and Cassie finally managed to block Em.

"You have potential. Any name you want to go by? We all here go by code names. Like I'm Guardian Queen. And Em here is Ninja." Diana explained.

"Yeah, I'm going to be Avenger." Cassie said, a determined look on her face.

* * *

**TA-DAAA! The end of Dragons! I'll admit, I had planned for a very different outlook, but I'm happy with this :D And there is a method to my madness! There is a reason as for why Cassie was created! And why I killed her parents! **

**And yes! Jeff and Diana Evans ARE Violet and Rose's parents! I just never put names to them...or last names for that matter :P**

**So yes, Hidden Lives: Humans will focus more on Cassie, but many old characters will return! Actually, the first chapter of Humans, will start off 1 year later! So, yeah!**

**No snippet because I am in a hurry, but expect Humans t obe up VERY shortly!**

**THANK YOU SO MUCH ONCE AGAIN!**

**Hezpeller**


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